 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
FILMMAKER'S
STATEMENT
My first impression of Rodney Bingenheimer was the sound of his voice whispering through the airwaves late at night on Los Angeles radio. It was unprepossessing -- high pitched, almost child-like; very unlike the chocolaty rich timbers one gets accustomed to on mass-market radio. In fact, Rodney's was different enough that for years I tried to imagine what kind of face would match this voice. I finally had my chance in early 1997 when radio D.J. Chris Carter (and former band member of Dramarama) filled me in on the life and times of Rodney Bingenheimer. Chris had been fascinated by Rodney's amazing story for some time and was interested in pursuing the idea of making a film about this pop star impresario. After spending some time with Rodney and those who knew him growing up, I got a vivid illustration of his unusual life -- how as a young boy he was literally abandoned by his mother at Hollywood's doorstep, and how he learned to make his way in the world by living in the shadow of pop stars and that by becoming the designated driver between the famous and the not so famous he was eventually able to help so many unknown people achieve their dreams of becoming famous pop stars themselves. After Chris Carter saw my documentary HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER'S APOCALYPSE (about the making of Apocalypse Now), he approached me with a proposal to document the story behind the voice of Rodney. And that story began with an incredible collection of photographs, not just of a sweet, boyish-looking Rodney, but also images of him with his friends over the last thirty-five years and what friends they have been! -- Elvis, Andy Warhol, the Beatles, Charles Manson, Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys, Mick Jagger, Drew Barrymoore, David Bowie, Sid Vicious, Sonny and Cher, more pop stars, movie stars, etc., etc. I felt like I was looking at the life of Chance Gardner, Forest Gump and Zelig all in one. And after I met Rodney, I realized perhaps I wasn't so far from the truth. Here was a very endearing, physically almost waifish, but very enigmatic personality who had existed his entire adult life in the shadow of celebrity. And although he had accomplished many impressive things in his own right (running a successful Sunset Strip club, discovering musical acts before they were famous, setting the tone for popular music in Los Angeles, and hence, much of the world), what most interested me was that Rodney's whole life seemed to be entirely shaped by popular culture. And the more I thought about Rodney's world, the more I thought about my own, and how all of us in western culture, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, are almost completely molded by what is fed to us through the media. Consequently,
with the help of my collaborators Chris Carter, editor Julie Janata,
in addition to the very generous support of my producer Greg Little/Caldera
Productions and his colleague Tommy Perna -- I have embarked on
an unique chronicling of Rodney's life; a kind of Homeric journey
through the world of celebrity and pop music which we have titled
Mayor of the Sunset Strip. Against an incredible canvas
of music (David Bowie, Coldplay, Oasis, The Beach Boys, No Doubt,
Courtney Love, The Monkees, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and many,
many more), we have explored Rodney's exciting and often sad life
and the incredible cavalcade of stars and characters who have been
part of his world, both household names and not. Through this blur
of celebrity and wanna-be's, we have hopefully given a face to the
explosive but fleeting phenomenon of fame and the harsh reality
that lives beneath its surface a reality grounded George
Hickenlooper
|
