[Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake, image courtesy VanityFair.com]
I’d been following Bret Easton Ellis’ tweets pretty religiously last summer. Like with all of his writing, looking back it seems vague, like a dream, and you can more remember the music you were listening to when you read it, or the way you felt, but the rest is—blurry. I saw this in February of this year, a break in the regular [but still including] curious references to pop music and film criticisms:
I was poking around his site and found more no-news news about the progress of the project. This Vanity Fair article, the basis for the screenplay for The Golden Suicides, is the story of Theresa and Jeremy, successful, good looking, blooming careers within the arts community, “co-muses” who took their own lives a week apart. It’s haunting, totally bizarre, and yet totally imaginable. Especially from Bret’s eye view. This read like it was straight out of one of his books:
Lovely Theresa Duncan liked to go for drives along the Pacific Coast Highway in her butter-colored Alfa Romeo Spider, listening to Steely Dan. She liked the band for the stories they told about hard-luck characters.
Meteoric beautiful people, in a “cosmic kind of love,” theirs was a rapid descent into what appeared to be a madness made possible by their intense, 12-year connection. Uh, sign me up.
At times I would hear her cackling and hooting from the alley…”[She] shrieked ‘cult whore’ and ‘cult hooker’ repeatedly. She was very frightening.”… She went to parties wearing sequined hot pants. Her boyfriend was Mitch Parker, former bassist of Government Issue. They had a song called “Asshole.” Sometimes she would take out her compact and apply lipstick when someone was boring her….She drank champagne by the bottle—all there ever was in their refrigerator.
Yikes. Read the article; it’s fantastic. I’ll warn you, though—similar to the way it feels to wrap up a chapter of American Psycho or Lunar Park—you’ll probably want to go stand in the sunshine afterwards, call your mom, and then take a nap.
Currently “in development” and slated for a 2011 release (according to imdb). I’m thrilled—but at the same time feeling like I have no legitimate film knowledge from which to draw that excitement—that Gus Van Sant is directing not tied to directing yet. I wonder what angle it will take—outside, watching Theresa and Jeremy’s paralleled deterioration and burned bridges? Or from the inside, feeling the paranoia and disappointment, and applauding the security they wrung out of each other?—and can only assume with Bret behind it, we won’t cease to be moved, frightened, and—when it’s over—blurry.
UPDATE: I had this whole other paragraph before I posted this about The Informers film version but felt it was irrelevant. I couldn’t figure out how to wonder aloud about Bret’s writing as it is expressed on screen, but then I read this incredible Vice interview [read it. really.] and after some talk of the Less Than Zero movie, I read this part on the subject of The Golden Suicides and was so freaking validated:
How did you end up writing this movie?
I read the New York magazine piece about them, and I was going through something at the time that made it really resonate with me. I had moved to LA and I was having some really bad relationship problems. I was involved with someone crazy, and I was also very frustrated by the disaster that was The Informers.
Then felt intrigued:
And so I read the David Amsden article about Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan and their suicides, and it resonated with me in terms of what happens when you’re hooked up with someone who’s losing their mind, but you love them and their world becomes yours. I thought back on all this stupid shit that I did when I was with this person. Usually you realize you’re with someone who’s crazy and you eventually back away. You go, “Oh, I get it! I get it now.” But what happens if you don’t? What happens if you just follow them? So I talked to a producer who I’ve worked with before on a couple of other scripts that weren’t made. I said, “Take a look at this. I want to do this as a movie.” And he read it and he said, “I think that’s totally cool. Let me option the article.” Now, I had problems with the New York piece. There was a lot of it that I don’t like. But I was incredibly sympathetic to the story itself.
It’s such dark and sad material.
But it’s not a dark and sad movie.No?
I mean, it’s a sad movie, but it’s not dark. There’s a doomed romantic quality to it. There’s something very enigmatic about this thing, and it’s based on delusions and the mazes you find yourself trapped in. The movie is really Jeremy Blake’s journey. We meet him before he even knows Theresa Duncan. I really related to Jeremy, and I love his work, and I kind of fell in love with him. The movie is from his point of view. It’s not from her point of view. It is an incredibly sympathetic portrait of him, and I think of her, too. Part of the problem with the original magazine piece is that it’s kind of gossipy and a little salacious at times, and it concentrates on things that I’m not that interested in. But this is a heartfelt script. If anyone is thinking that I’m doing some kind of, like, “Bret Easton Ellis” take on it, like it’s a satire or stand-up, they are completely wrong. It’s a very heartfelt love story.
L’s and G’s, as if we didn’t already know it after reading Lunar Park, it appears Mr. Ellis has grown up.
Excellent. Said like Mr. Burns, with the dead Scientology cat on my lap.
-Carey
I remember when I first heard about this couple and their suicides. I was eerily intrigued by them and began reading Theresa’s blog.
I recommend checking it out:
http://theresalduncan.typepad.com/witostaircase/
I look forward to the movie very much.
Definitely. I linked her name to it in the post but it’s probably not very clear I did that. Is it weird I’m sort of hesitant to go read it? I might need a moment first 🙂 Also, do you know if there’s anywhere you can find her short animated film, The History of Glamour? I can’t find it anywhere.
whoa!! that is some crazy shite…nothing like darkening the morning a bit. ok…on that note…i have to take the girls to gymnastics.
Wow! That is heavy stuff. I am now going to spend my evening googling them.
Can you believe I have never read any of his books? Good to know I now have some summer reading lined up.
This was a true story? I never heard of them. Sounds really dark though. Are all his books dark? I better save them for really sunny days and when I’m not PMS’ing. Ha Ha
Oh man Carey, I went there. To her blog. That is dark shite. The eulogies were beautiful and haunting. Sitting here with a lump in my throat. I won’t go there again anytime soon. So tragic. I need to shake this off. What happened to them? Does anyone know why?
I know… it’s weird, right? I got totally absorbed in it all this morning then had to step away from it. I only went to her blog to investigate her supposedly “adorable” and sweet short animated film, but confess I haven’t gone back! I think she was pretty unstable to begin with, just from what I hear. And they must have just fed off each other.
Bret is usually dark, but not in that way. More a you-have-to-laugh, empty, narcissistic kind of way, if that makes sense. I got into him in my early 20s and have just admired the style he pioneered that others only imitate. But the darkness I think was just alluring because I didn’t know that kind of writing was out there. I would recommend starting with the first two—Less Than Zero and Rules of Attraction, which at least you could laugh at some. Then watch the movies and then read something niiiiiiiice and light, like Dr Seuss. 🙂
If you get a chance check out my blog…I’ve been dedicated to following Theresa Duncan’s story for a while now and have an entire category dedicated to her. Also, the entire article called Folie au Deux is typed out in my pages at the top. It is another article you can’t find online, which turned me on to their story. It was from a California magazine published just a few months after they died. Please check it out.
http://thewitcontinuum.wordpress.com/
I also have that link to The History of Glamour. I’ll stop in later with it.
Keep up the intrigue. Your going to find a lot of info out there about them…and her blog is fascinating. A must read.
Incredible—thank you so much for sharing. I can’t wait to see her film—heading to your blog now.
The VF story is pretty sweetened up. You might check out the LA Weekly story which is a lot grittier.
awesome—thanks for sharing. I’m beyond intrigued.
Hm, cool news. I’m interested to see how the movie turns out. I first heard about Blake in early 2008 when I took a Writing About Art class at the Phillips Collection. We went to see a Blake exhibition at the Corcoran and had to write about it. It was over-the-top haunting, clausterphobic, exhausting and manic – especially since most of his stuff is video and the room was quite small and dark – you couldn’t escape. The curator for that show knew what they were doing.
http://www.corcoran.org/exhibitions/previous_results.asp?Exhib_ID=189
no way… you saw one of his exhibits? That’s amazing. I spent far too much time watching his stuff on YouTube yesterday. The whole thing is just nagging at me. Everyone’s comments are awesome, I’m going to follow some of these leads fo sho.
yeah it was one of the coolest exhibits I’ve seen. My other fav exhibition ever was a Douglas Gordon exhibit at the Hirshhorn. Also primarily a video artist but without the tragic backstory.
The History of Glamour used to be on the Vanity Fair site…with the Nancy Jo Sales article. Apparently they’ve taken it down, sorry. I hope we can find it again. It is a curious animated film…and semi-autobiographical. She was
very talented. From the articles you read you will get that they really were not just starting out…they had a bit of struggle in LA…and their delusional paranoia may have been their downfall.
This movie I hope will be a true representation of who they really were. I have little hope…Hollywood enhances everything they touch…and sometimes not in a good way. We shall see. Bret is a great writer so I have some hope. Bret also tweeted that he has Angelina Jolie in mind for the part as he’s writing with screenplay. Not who I would pick…
I think if there’s anything Bret embraces and doesn’t mince words with, it’s the gritty stuff. I was curious about the Angelina thing, too and had searched for more info on his site about it. The more I learn, the less I picture her playing the part, but you never know with chameleon wackos like her! hah.
it’s easy to feed of each other when you’re that close. Like when I was convinced the old people in our building were going to fire me from living there because I took my bike in the lobby, and Rob and I battened down the hatches and bitched about them for weeks, totally angry for no reason, until one day I saw the scariest of scary men and had my bike with me and he was totally polite and didn’t care.
I know, I’m ridiculous—but hopefully partially sane.
i read that article on them a while back and it is indeed a fascinating story…had no idea about the movie but am a huge bee fan so I’m excited!
listening to Steely Dan … oh no. Well, I would be in a beat up white 80’s Porsche so, phew, I guess that takes me off the suicide risk hotlist.
ok wait sorry, i didn’t mean to make light of their story, it is a tragic one that i have followed and i think it’s kind of sad they are making a movie about it (which will no doubt glorify it) – to be honest. It’s already like they weren’t real people but characters, I mean it took me a second to realize I was sort of joking around about someone’s life & unfortunate death…
ha—pfff. don’t worry about it. I was too, which is why I said “sign me up” with a degree if sarcasm. Honestly, if something inspired Bret to write, I’m behind it. It is sad, but also so fucked up I’m happy to see how Bret has a hand in telling the story. I was going to point out the Steely Dan thing to you but totally forgot and am very glad you found it on your own. I thought of you when I read that. But not in the way I think about how I, too, like Huey Lewis in the scene where Patrick Bateman is excitedly talking about the album while putting an axe in the back of Paul’s head in American Psycho. That is more frightening than funny.
i remember that article! beyond fascinating. after reading it, i went on a huge hunt for anything i could find on the whole mysterious crazy relationship.
so insanely interested to see what b.e.e does with the whole train wreck…b/c sadly, as we all know, it’s often impossible to look away. especially when involving such bright young things.
p.s. do we think beck will play himself?
http://greylodge.org/gpc/?p=1109
The History of Glamour used to be available here. Not sure about the health of the torrent at this point.
Before writing off Duncan and Blake as paranoid wackos, do a little research into the pile of dead bodies Scientology’s wake: http://www.whyaretheydead.info/
http://www.lisamcpherson.org/others.htm
Cool. Thanks so much for those links, completely fascinating.