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::: Paul Morrisey the trilogy:::
Paul
Morrisey was born in New York City in 1938. He studied literature
at Fordham University. In the early 1960s, following a stint in
the Army and jobs in insurance and as a social worker, he began
directing short independent films.
In 1965, he was introduced to Andy Warhol, who asked him to contribute
ideas and bring new direction to the film experiments he had been
recently begun presenting - others had been suggesting, and in a
very limited sense, directing these early experiments, but they
remained in a static, relatively primitive state. From then on,
Morrissey not only directed all of the films but signed a management
contract with Warhol putting him in charge of all operations at
the Warhol studio with the exception of the sales of artwork. It
was Morrissey's idea that Warhol's celebrity name be used to promote
a rock n' roll group; to that end, he discovered the Velvet Underground,
added Nico to the band and signed them all to a management contract.
While administering the very successful early years of the group,
he continued to add story ideas, casting, cinematography and direction
to all of the film experiments that Warhol presented from My Hustler
(1965) and Chelsea Girls (1966) through Imitation of Christ (1967)
and Bike Boy (1967); Morrissey acted as the films' distributor as
well.
After Lonesome Cowboys (1967), which was written, produced and directed
by Morrissey from start to finish, he assumed total control of all
subsequent films presented by Andy Warhol - from the arthouse/cult
classics Flesh (1968), Trash (1970) and Heat (1972) to his more
mainstream successes with the Carlo Ponti/Jean-Pierre Rassam productions
Flesh for Frankenstein (1974) and Blood for Dracula (1974).
Morrissey parted company with Warhol in 1975 when the artist chose
to concentrate on his painting and business activities. Morrissey
went on to pursue financing for his later films, one of the very
few American film directors to remain independent of any Hollywood
film companies, independent or otherwise.
He was always responsible for his films in their entirety, working
consistently with mostly young unknown actors, writing and directing
with no outside interference of any kind. Once financing from 'independent'
sources no longer allowed him the freedom from interference that
he previously enjoyed, he stopped making films.
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