Set Photos and Stills from Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane

Gerald Incandela, Cala Domestica, Sardinia, 1976

Gerald Incandela was Derek Jarman’s lover when they were filming Sebastiane and he appears in it as Sebastiane’s supernatural love interest in the film, the Leopard Boy, whom I took to be an avatar of Apollo, though I suppose they might have intended him to be taken for the equally mythical Jesus.  In any case, he shot these excellent photos, which are the few I could find documenting the making of my favorite of Jarman’s feature films (not to discount the excellence of the later ones, especially the Last of England.)

Tamar's Place & the 1st World Insurrection Circus

Bread & Puppet Theater
Glover VT, August 2003

In August 2003 I made the long trip north to Glover, Vermont, to take part in the Bread & Puppet Geezer Week.  I hadn't performed in or even attended the Bread and Puppet Circus and Pageant since 1989, though I had visited the Dopp Farm a few times in the interim, just not when the crowds were there.  I stayed up at Tamar Schumann's house, which is located on the hill above her parent's house and property.  I had lived there with her and her first husband, David, for about six months in 1987, so I knew the property very well and spent a fair amount of time reacquainting myself with some spots I enjoyed haunting  fifteen years earlier.

Ignatz and Max at the Wood Pile

I believe that I shot these photographs of Ignatz and Max twelve and a half years ago in August 2003. Ignatz is sadly long gone and I think that Max hasn't been splitting the firewood for Elka and Peter the last few years, or not as much of it as he used to, so I'm glad I made these pictures while I had the chance.

The Killers

Robert Siodmak, Hollywood, California, 1946

 

Based on one of Hemingway’s better short stories, the screenplay was credited solely to Anthony Veiller, though it was more than equally the work of John Huston, with additional assistance from Richard Brooks. Of course only the very beginning actually followed the text, and it did so faithfully, completely and to its violent end, after which the film makers concocted a very elaborate tale, with intricate flashbacks inspired by Citizen Kane, that seeks to explain the central character’s acquiescence to his own murder.  Finally, it needs to be said that this was Burt Lancaster’s first film, that it is among his very finest performances and as mesmerizing a debut as any actor ever made.  Watching this, one can understand exactly why Robert Bresson wanted him to play Lancelot.