Abel Ferrara is best known for directing three great movies: "Bad Lieutenant," "King of New York" and "The Funeral." No, make that four. 1981's "Ms. 45" holds a special place in my twisted heart. That's enough of a great run for any filmmaker, especially one who got his start making grindhouse sleaze.
That said, Ferrara has turned on the two films most people associate with him.
In a conversation with "Cabaret Boys" director Michael M. Bilandic for Interview Magazine, Ferrara grumbled that whenever programmers want to screen his work, it's always the same two titles. Everybody wants "Bad Lieutenant." Everybody wants "King of New York." His response?
All they want to show whenever there's a screening for me is "Bad Lieutenant" or "King of New York," which now I can't stand either of those two movies.
I get it. Imagine making 25 movies over five decades and having the world care about only two from the early '90s. That would drive any filmmaker a little nuts. However, those are the films that built Ferrara's legacy, and without them, there might not be as many programmers putting together retrospectives of his work.
As for what's next, Ferrara said last year that he's working on a gangster film with Asia Argento, set to shoot in Bari, Italy. No update since.
So let's gauge our readers: has Ferrara matched "Bad Lieutenant" and "King of New York" since the mid-'90s? "The Addiction" and "The Funeral" came close, and there have been flashes of brilliance since, with "Pasolini" certainly having its passionate defenders. But the bulk of his recent output, from "Siberia" to "Zeros and Ones" to "Padre Pio," has been scattershot at best, the kind of work that plays a festival sidebar and then quietly disappears.
And yet, he keeps working. That's mostly thanks to the consistent support he's gotten from Europe, especially France and Italy, where he's still treated as a cinematic maverick (which he is). That relationship goes way back to "King of New York," which was financed by Italian companies. Ferrara now lives in Rome, and European producers keep writing the checks, even if mainstream audiences stopped paying attention long ago.
Henry’s casting is bound to rile up some fanboys. It's worth remembering that Billy Dee Williams played Dent in Tim Burton's "Batman," just never the Two-Face half of the character.