When Mary introduced Aaron I shot Andy Warhol In 1996, she was looking at New York in the late 1960s. Thirty years later, the film feels surprisingly contemporary.
Revisit the movie on It happened in HollywoodAaron discusses a story that touches on many of the issues that dominate culture today: fame, identity, grievance, and violence.
Part of that comes from its subject matter. Long before the advent of social media, Andy Warhol understood the value of attention. His factory was full of actors, artists, and aspiring personalities vying for exposure.
“He took his own desire for fame and saw it in others,” Aaron says. “People want attention.”
But the main character in the film is not Warhol. It’s Valerie Solanas, the radical feminist writer who shot him in 1968. Aaron became fascinated with Solanas after reading the SCUM manifesto and realized there was much more to it than the headlines suggested.
“I thought this was a great character. She’s really incredibly funny. No one ever said she was great or funny. She was dismissed as crazy,” she says, adding that Solanas felt ignored and removed from the world she wanted to be a part of.
“She felt like she was being silenced,” Aaron says. “She felt like people were controlling her life and became extremely paranoid.”
The film—now released in a new 4K restoration via Janus Films—explores questions about gender and identity that feel strikingly familiar today. One of the most memorable relationships is between Solanas and Warhol star Candy Darling. Looking back, Haroun says there was “a kind of ideological conflict” between their views on identity and biology, a debate that is still very much alive.
The conversation also covers the making of the film itself. Haroun remembers spending years researching Warhol’s world, then suddenly finding himself inside it.
“I wanted to unveil Valerie Solanas’ story and get it out into the world,” she says. “And I wanted to be in the factory in the mid-1960s.”
After the factory was rebuilt for the film, she remembers sitting alone on the famous silver sofa and taking it all in.
“I’m actually in the factory. We created it,” she remembers thinking. “It rose from nothing around me.”
Aaron also discusses casting Jared Harris as Warhol, working with Lili Taylor on her acclaimed performance as Solanas, and why Stephen Dorff turned out to be the perfect choice to play Candy Darling (her original wish was Leonardo DiCaprio).
Thirty years after its publication… I shot Andy Warhol It remains one of the most creatively successful films ever made about Warhol and his circle. What stands out today is the number of questions it raises about fame, identity, and belonging that still seem relevant.
Listen to the full conversation with Mary Haroun on It happened in Hollywood.
