Wild Side
Directed byDonald Cammell
Written byChina Kong
Donald Cammell
Produced byAvi Lerner (executive producer)

Danny Dimbort (executive producer)
Trevor Short (executive producer)
Andrew Pfeffer (executive producer)
Elie Cohn (producer)
John Langley (producer)
Boaz Davidson (co-producer)
Joan Chen (associate producer)
(director's cut):
Hamish McAlpine (producer)
Nick Jones (producer)
Frank Mazzola (producer)
China Kong (co-producer)

Roger Trilling (co-producer)
StarringAnne Heche
Christopher Walken
Joan Chen
Steven Bauer
CinematographySead Mutarevic
Edited byFrank Mazzola
Music byJon Hassell (original)
Ryuichi Sakamoto (director's cut)[1]
Release dates
February 24, 1996 (cable TV premiere)
2000 (director's cut)
Running time
96 min.
111 min. (Director's cut)
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish

Wild Side is a 1995 erotic thriller film co-written and directed by Donald Cammell and starring Anne Heche in her first lead role, along with Christopher Walken, Joan Chen, Steven Bauer, and Allen Garfield. It was Cammell's final film before his suicide in April 1996.

The film had a troubled production history. Cammell's original version of the film that featured a non-linear narrative was recut without his permission by the production company Nu Imag, with the new cut emphasizing the sex scenes, turning it into an exploitation picture with an incoherent story.[2] Wild Side initially was a straight-to-video release.

A director's cut was reconstructed according to Cammell's original intentions by film editor Frank Mazzola and writer China Kong, which recreated the non-linear construction, creating an avant-garde film with a new musical score.[2] This version was released in 2000 and was well-received by some critics. It is considered by many to be a cult film.

The film gained some notoriety for the strong lesbian sex scene between Heche and Chen featured in the unrated version, which the production company Nu Image used to market the film starting in 1997, during Anne Heche's high-profile relationship with Ellen DeGeneres.

Synopsis

By day, Alex Lee is a California banker. By night, she moonlights as "Johanna", a high-end call girl. When she is drawn into the sordid life of infamous money launderer Bruno Buckingham, Alex must learn to safely navigate her way past Bruno's infatuation, deal with the unwanted advances of Bruno's driver Tony, and come to accept the growing attraction between herself and Virginia, Bruno's wife.

Cast (in credits order)

  • Christopher Walken as Bruno Buckingham
  • Joan Chen as Virginia Chow
  • Steven Bauer as Tony
  • Anne Heche as Alex Lee
  • Allen Garfield as Dan Rackman
  • Adam Novak as Lyle Litvak
  • Zion as Hiro Sakamoto
  • Richard Palmer as Cop Driver
  • Randy Crowder as Federal Agent
  • Marcus Aurelius as Agent James Reed
  • Michael Rose as Agent Morse Jaeger
  • Lewis Arquette as The Chief
  • Rolando de la Maza as Steward
  • Candace Kita (as Candace Camille Bender) as Lotus Ita
  • Philip Hamlyn as Ian Johnson
  • Gena Kim as Massage Girl
  • Robert Mazzola as Gilberto

Versions

There are three different versions of the film. Cammell committed suicide shortly after seeing it drastically re-edited by its producers. A "director's cut" version by Cammell's wife and co-screenwriter China Kong, and his editor and sometime producer Frank Mazzola, was released in 2000 and was noted by critics.[3] The film is known for its graphic lesbian love scenes between stars Joan Chen and Anne Heche. The scenes proved controversial to the point that after Wild Side's initial airings on HBO, the network subsequently chose to air a version of the film with those portions deleted.

Cammell's suicide

On the night of 24 April 1996, Cammell shot himself in the head in his Hollywood Hills home. His friends told the media that he suffered from long-term chronic depression.[4][5] Cammell's depression reportedly was exacerbated by the studio's recutting his recent movie Wild Side without his permisson.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "CAMMELL AFTER DARK". Spectacle Theater. 27 September 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2023. There's also a sublime Ryuichi Sakamoto score
  2. 1 2 Kermode, Mark. "Wild Side". bfi.com. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (29 June 2000). "Donald Cammell's Wild Side". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ Musetto, V.A. (8 August 1999). "THE 'PERFORMANCE' OF A LIFETIME". nypost.com. New York Post. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  5. ↑ Macnab, Geoffrey (30 April 1998). "Film: What a great performance". The Independent. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  6. ↑ King, Susan (20 August 2012). "Five noted directors who committed suicide". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
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