Program – The Writing Life

I used to think I wanted to write the Great American Novel. My fantasy life as a writer was a cross between Gore Vidal on the Dick Cavett show, and Charles Bukowski. These two movies explain the other side.
The amazing Lili Taylor plays Valerie Solanas, a would-be playwright, who hangs on the fringes on Andy Warhol’s Factory in the 1960’s in “I Shot Andy Warhol”. She is strange, probably mentally ill. She shoots and nearly kills Warhol (thus the title). Why watch a movie about a crazy person like Valerie? Lili Taylor. Completely worth it.
Watch Jack Nicholson in “The Shining” next. See Jack Torrance as a failing writer, not as a proto-Freddie Krueger, and appreciate this performance.