Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She is best known for directing and co-writing American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page and I Shot Andy Warhol.
Early life
Born in Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada, Harron spent her early life residing between Toronto and Los Angeles. While in England, she dated Tony Blair, later the prime minister of the United Kingdom and Chris Huhne, another Oxford student who later became a prominent politician.
Career
Early writing work
In New York, Harron helped start and write for Punk magazine as a music journalist; she was the first journalist to interview the Sex Pistols for an American publication. She grew up in the early punk scene of America. She found the culture easy for her to fit into and was constantly evolving and spreading into new demographics. Harron says she owes her success with her first film to Andy who helped to sell the controversial focus on the attempted murderess, Solanas.
In an interview Harron did for CBC’s Newsworld’s On the Arts in 1996, she told film critic Christopher Heard that "It was Valerie that really impelled [her] to make this film, because of the mystery of her story. [...] Not knowing who she was ... the lack of information about her." Solanas's existence was "a real piece of lost history" and an "unknown story" that she sought to explore deeper. It also won the sole acting award at that year's Sundance Film Festival for Lili Taylor's performance as Solanas.
American Psycho
Harron's second film, American Psycho, released in 2000, is based on the book of the same title by Bret Easton Ellis, which is notorious for its graphic descriptions of torture and murder. The protagonist, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), is an investment banker who goes on a killing spree. The New York Times Stephen Holden wrote of the film:
The film was mired in controversy before production began, due in large part to the legacy of the book's release. Harron has a liking for darker and more controversial topics, such as Valerie Solanas, but it was the satirical nature of the book that "inspired her film about perfunctory violence and obsessive consumption." When returning to work with co-writer Guinevere Turner, Harron felt they were best suited for the job of American Psycho as they needed no hesitation on feminist values, especially after Turner's successful lesbian film Go Fish.
Although some criticized American Psycho for its violence against women, Harron and Turner made conscious decisions that project the female influence on this adaption. Harron's adaptation of this film changes the focus from purely Bateman's perspective to showcase the faces of the women as "the perspective in those murder scenes wasn't through Patrick Bateman but the women."
The Notorious Bettie Page
The Notorious Bettie Page, released in 2005, starred Gretchen Mol as Bettie Page, the 1950s pinup model who became a sexual icon. The film shows Page as the daughter of religious and conservative parents, as well as the fetish symbol who became a target of a Senate investigation of pornography. About the film, Harron said in 2006:<blockquote>Clearly Bettie is a very inspiring figure to young women because she had a strong independent streak. She did what she wanted to do and she wasn't just doing it for men ... But I think it's a huge mistake to think of her as a conscious feminist heroine. As far as I can see, she didn't have an agenda, ever. She just followed her own path unconsciously. I don't think she thought of herself as a rebel in any way. She was kind of in her own world of dress-up.</blockquote>Harron later stated that the film suffered from false expectations, in that many male critics and male viewers expected and wanted the film to be "sexy", but that the film instead portrayed "what it's like to be Bettie", and Page herself did not get a "sexual charge" out of her modelling. that explores the nuanced friendships of teenage girls as they are repeatedly confronted with the prospect of adulthood.
Charlie Says
Harron directed the 2018 independent film Charlie Says, with a screenplay by Turner, which tells the real-life story of how three of Charles Manson's female followers (Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten) came to terms with the magnitude of their crimes while incarcerated in the 1970s. Matt Smith played Manson in flashbacks. The film had initially been intended for another director, but when that director was no longer available Harron took over. Harron stated that she was fascinated by the psychological aspects of how the women ended up committing murder as a result of both manipulation by Manson and feelings of solidarity with one another.
Dalíland
Dalíland is a 2022 film directed by Harron, from a screenplay by her husband John Walsh. The film, set in the 1970s, follows the marriage between painter Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala Dalí, played by Ben Kingsley and Barbara Sukowa. The film was shot in Liverpool and released at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
Other work
In addition to her films, Harron was also the executive producer of The Weather Underground, a documentary looking at the Weathermen (political activists and extremists of the 1970s). She has also worked in television, directing episodes of Oz, Six Feet Under, Homicide: Life on the Street, The L Word and Big Love. Working on the episode of Six Feet Under "The Rainbow of Her Reasons", Harron was brought back together with I Shot Andy Warhol actress, Lili Taylor. She has consistently denied this label, although she considers herself a feminist. In a 2006 interview, and then again during an interview in 2012, she stated:
She is a member of Film Fatales, a women's independent filmmaker collective.
Asked about her Canadian identity in a 2014 interview, Harron stated that she mostly felt "just not American". She stated that, to her, being Canadian meant "You don't think you're at the center of things." She also felt that, unlike American directors, she was not "a moralistic filmmaker. I'm not trying to tell people what to do, and I'm not trying to lead... I'm interested in ambiguity."
Although her films deal with controversial materials, like American Psycho, in the opinion of director Buffy Childerhose, she does not put emphasis on gore and violence.
Personal life
Harron lives in New York with her husband, filmmaker John C. Walsh. They have two daughters.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Title
!Director
!Writer
!Notes
|-
| 1996
| I Shot Andy Warhol
|
|
|
|-
|2000
|American Psycho
|
|
|
|-
|2005
|The Notorious Bettie Page
|
|
|
|-
|2011
|The Moth Diaries
|
|
|
|-
|2018
|Charlie Says
|
|
|
|-
|2022
|Dalíland
|
|
|
|-
|}
Executive producer
- The Weather Underground (2002) (Documentary)
- The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
Researcher
- BBC documentary on Andy Warhol
Television
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Title
!Notes
|-
|1989
|The Late Show
| Batman special episode
|-
|1991
|Without Walls
|Episode "The Thing Is... Hotels"
|-
|1994
|Winds of Change
|Documentary movie
|-
|rowspan=2|1998
|Homicide: Life on the Street
|Episode "Sins of the Father"
|-
|Oz
|Episode "Animal Farm"
|-
|2002
|Pasadena
|Episode "The Bones" Unaired
|-
|2004
|The L Word
|Episode "Liberally"
|-
|2005
|Six Feet Under
|Episode "The Rainbow of Her Reasons"
|-
|rowspan=2|2006
|Big Love
|Episode "Roberta's Funeral"
|-
|Six Degrees
|Episode "Masquerade"
|-
|2007
|The Nine
|Episode "You're Being Watched"
|-
|2008
|Fear Itself
|Episode "Community"
|-
|2013
|The Anna Nicole Story
|TV movie
|-
|rowspan=2|2015
|Constantine
|Episode "Quid Pro Quo"
|-
|The Following
|Episode "Reunion"
|-
|2017
|Alias Grace
|Miniseries
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Award
!Category
!Title
!Shared With
!Results
!Ref.
|-
|1996
|Cannes Film Festival
|Un Certain Regard
|I Shot Andy Warhol
|
|
|
|
|-
|2000
|Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
|Sierra Award
Best Screenplay, Adapted
|American Psycho
|Guinevere Turner
|
|
|-
|2000
|Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival
|Best Film
|American Psycho
|
|
|
|-
|2000
|Awards Circuit Community Awards
|Best Adapted Screenplay
|American Psycho
|Guinevere Turner
|
|
|-
|2001
|Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film Awards
|Best Adapted Screenplay
|American Psycho
|Guinevere Turner
|
|
|-
|2001
|London Critics Circle Film Awards
|Director of the Year
|American Psycho
|
|
|
|-
|2005
|Provincetown International Film Festival
|Filmmaker on the Edge Award
|
|
|
|
|-
|2006
|Berlin International Film Festival
|Best Feature Film
|The Notorious Bettie Page
|
|
|
|-
|2011
|Abu Dhabi Film Festival
|Best Narrative Feature
|The Moth Diaries
|
|
|
|-
|2018
|Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
|Best Limited Series
|Alias Grace
|Noreen Halpern, Sarah Polley, D.J. Carson
|
|
|-
|2018
|Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
|Best Direction, Drama Program or Limited Series
|Alias Grace
|
|
|
|-
|2018
|Gotham Independent Film Award
|Breakthrough Series – Longform
|Alias Grace
|Noreen Halpern, and Sarah Polley
|
|
|-
|2018
|Stockholm Film Festival
|Lifetime Achievement
|Lifetime Achievement Award
|
|
|
|-
|2018
|Venice Film Festival
|Best Film
|Charlie Says
|
|
|
|-
|2024
|Maine International Film Festival
|Lifetime Achievement
| Midlife Achievement Award
|
|
|
|}
See also
- List of female film and television directors
- List of LGBT-related films directed by women
References
Bibliography
- Bussmann, Kate. "Cutting Edge."The Guardian. [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/06/mary-harron-film] March 5, 2009. p. 16. Print.
- Harron, Mary. "The Risky Territory of 'American Psycho.'" The New York Times April 9, 2000, late ed.: section 2. Print.
- Harron, Mary; "The Notorious Bettie Page" MovieNet. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012083005/http://www.movienet.com/nobetpage.html]
- Hernandez, Eugene (January 18, 2000) "PARK CITY 2000 BUZZ: "American Psycho" NC-17; Next Wave Nabs Sundance Doc". indieWire. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- Hurd, Mary. Women Directors and Their Films. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2007. Print.
- King, Randall. "The Notorious Mary Harron." Winnipeg Free Press. [http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/movies/the-notorious-mary-harron-141004003.html] March 1, 2012. Print.
- Marcus, Lydia. "The Pent Up and the Pinup." Lesbian News. April 2006: p. 43. Print.
- Murray, Rebecca. "Interview with Mary Harron, the Writer/Director of The Notorious Bettie Page: Harron Continues to Tackle Edgy Subject Matter in Her Latest Film" . About.com. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
External links
- Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
- Marry Harron interview at NPR