The Gutter

Koolhaas On Politics, Evil, and Russ Meyer's Humanism 
Tuesday, April 4, 2006

russmeyer.jpgA Reader alerted us just now to story we overlooked last week in our rush to be as fucked up and fabulous as possible: a rather interesting interview in Der Spiegel with the Dark Prince of Remulon. Our tipster was taken by the political talk at the top of the interview—"Rem the PM?"—and though it would be a gas to see Rem lui meme strutting upon the EU political stage (rather than just shooting his mouth off and designing fancy flags), we found ourselves considerably more intrigued by the passage below. How do you say "super vixens" in Dutch?

SPIEGEL: You are also an author. Can architecture be compared to a story, a novel or even a poem?

Koolhaas: Yes. I used to write screenplays for Russ Meyer.

SPIEGEL: ... who became famous for his sex films starring large-breasted women.

Koolhaas: In a script, you have to link various episodes together, you have to generate suspense and you have to assemble things -- through editing, for example. It's exactly the same in architecture. Architects also put together spatial episodes to make sequences.

SPIEGEL: Tell us about "Hollywood Tower," the script you wrote for Russ Meyer.

Koolhaas: I wrote it in 1974 with Rene Daalder, and it consists of three levels. At the first level, wealthy Arabs buy up the Hollywood film archive and build a computer with which any star can be put back on the screen. The second level deals with the Nixon administration, which spends a fortune helping out-of-work actors -- including Lassie -- get jobs in the movies again. Finally, the third level is about Russ Meyer, of course, who is shooting a porn film -- the last form of humanism.

SPIEGEL: This potential masterpiece was never finished.

Koolhaas: Fassbinder and other directors were our influences at the time. Unfortunately, Meyer didn't think it was the right material for him.

Always with the world's-not-ready-for-my-genius shtick. Forever and a day. But if Rem had any balls as an artist he would have sucked it up and made a Russ Meyer flick himself.

· Interview with Rem Koolhaas: Evil Can Also be Beautiful [Der Spiegel]


Posted in Dinosaurs



All set here? Continue enjoying The Gutter...
« The Gutter Salutes: Power and Influence | Home | DillerWatchâ„¢: Relentless Bukkake »

Back to top


About The Gutter
Ill-mannered commentary on the architectural arts.


Search The Gutter



Gutter Links
AIA New York
Archinect Forums
Arch League of NY
ArchNewsNow
Architectural Review
Architecture Magazine
Daily Dose
Design Observer
Greg.org
ID Magazine
Metroplis
Miss Representation
PushPullBar
The Architects Newspaper
Testy Tastemaker
WTCBurlesque
Van Alen Institute


Published by


Contact
Email The Gutter

Feed
RSS/Atom

Credits

Editor
The Guttersniper

Publisher
Curbed Network

Technical
Eliot Shepard

Software
Movable Type

Copyright © 2008 Curbed


NEW SERVER
built at May 11, 2008, 10:37:26 pm in 0.0749 seconds