Cleopatra situates itself in the same relationship to Hollywood as the Warhol/Morrisey films of the period. It corresponds to Joseph Mankiewicz's 1963 Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton which Auder's cast watched and used as the starting point for scene by scene improvisation Auder drew his cast from Warhol's ensemble – including not only Viva and Louis Waldon, but also Taylor Mead, Ondine, Andrea Feldman, Gerard Melanga and others.
Acting
Warhol superstars improvising entire scenes from memory.
Direction
Auder's radical anti-cinema approach to epic filmmaking.
Director
Michel Auder
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This 1970 experiment anticipated our current era of reaction videos and meta-commentary by decades.
Michel Auder filmed his cast improvising after a single screening—no script, no budget, just pure factory energy.
US
