Ulli Lommel

Ulli Lommel (21 December 1944 – 2 December 2017) was a German actor and director, noted for his many collaborations with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and his association with the New German Cinema movement. Lommel spent time at The Factory and was a creative associate of Andy Warhol, with whom he made several films and works of art. He moved to the United States in 1977, where he wrote, directed and starred in over 50 films.
Early life
Born in Zielenzig in 1944, a few weeks before the arrival of the Red Army, Lommel's family fled the city, wrapping the infant Ulli in a roll of carpet. His father, Ludwig, was a popular radio personality. His mother was the actress Karla van Cleef.
While living in Bad Nauheim as a teenager, Lommel performed with Elvis Presley.
Career
Lommel started his cinematic career as an actor in the early 1960s. One of his first film roles was in Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill, in which he starred alongside Italian actress Letícia Román. In 1969, he appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's directorial debut Love Is Colder Than Death. The movie, an existentialist film noir, received a shocked and confused response at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1969, but the cast as an ensemble would go on to win an award at the German Film Awards in 1970.
In 1971, Fassbinder's surrealist western Whity, which Lommel produced and starred in the leading role, won several German Film Awards (the German Oscars). Shot in Almería, Spain, in the summer of 1970, the shoot was so tumultuous and grueling that it became the source of inspiration for the subsequent Fassbinder film, Beware of a Holy Whore. Beware of a Holy Whore was a postmodern analysis of Fassbinder's career. in which he used fourth wall methods to poke fun at the trials and tribulations of filmmaking.
He starred in Fassbinder's The American Soldier (1970), World on a Wire (1973) and Chinese Roulette (1976) among others. Lommel's second film as director, The Tenderness of Wolves, which was produced by Fassbinder, was a drama about the murders of Fritz Haarmann. Haarmann was also the inspiration behind Fritz Lang's M. This was the feature which brought him to the attention of Andy Warhol, after the film was screened at a Chicago Film Festival.
A very enthusiastic review was written by the renowned critic Vincent Canby in the New York Times which stated:"It is beautifully and enthusiastically performed and it doesn't contain a single superfluous or redundant camera movement. Like Mr. Fassbinder's own early films, 'Tenderness of the Wolves' is cryptic, tough-talking and swaggering in the manner of someone who means to shock his elders. Like the early Warhol work, "Tenderness of the Wolves" seems to be sending up everyone and everything, but, unlike the Warhol movies, it takes filmmaking—the possibilities of the discipline—with complete seriousness."
The film was nominated at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival for the Golden Bear.
Lommel moved to the United States in 1977 and started working with Andy Warhol. He became fascinated with Warhol's artistic style. Lommel owned an array of Warhol's polaroid photographs and pop art pieces. Their friendship led to Warhol becoming involved with several of Lommel's films. He produced Cocaine Cowboys, a rock and roll western which starred Jack Palance. Warhol appeared in Lommel's Blank Generation (1980), a film which focused on the punk rock scene in New York City. It starred the punk icon Richard Hell and his band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Several scenes were filmed in CBGB and offer an insight into the frenetic madness of the scene at the time.
In 1980, Lommel directed The Boogeyman, which became a worldwide hit. The film gained notoriety in the UK, when it was added to the DPP 'Video Nasties' list. After the success of Boogeyman, Lommel made several more genre features, including (1983), starring Tony Curtis and Vera Miles, The Devonsville Terror (1983) with Donald Pleasence, and Revenge of the Stolen Stars (1985) with Klaus Kinski.
For a period of four years, Lommel made a series of direct-to-video movies based on the lives of serial killers, most of which were released through Lionsgate.
In 2002, Lommel participated in the documentary Fassbinder in Hollywood, which is available as part of the Arrow Films and Video Fassbinder Collection (Vol 2). The documentary contains an interview with Wim Wenders.
In 2012 and early 2013, Lommel produced the feature "The 4 Senses", A Metropole Film production with a $3 million budget, which shot in Venice and Verona, Italy and Savannah, Georgia. (USA). Rudiger von Spies was the writer and director.
In the summer of 2013 Lommel went for nine months to Brazil to work on several projects. He completed his bio-epic documentary Mondo Americana and wrote a book. Ulli Lommel: CAMPO BAHIA and made a film about Campo Bahia, the official camp for the Germany national football team in Brazil.
In 2016, Hollywood Action House began developing Boogeyman Chronicles, a series of eight 45-minute episodes. Inspired by Lommel's 1980 cult hit The Boogeyman, the first episode was planned to begin airing worldwide on Halloween 2018. The new story line was developed after test audiences in the U.S. and Europe saw various cuts of a series of plot-possibilities and characters titled "Boogeyman Reincarnation". The writing team headed by Colin McCracken worked on episodes 2–8 with the plan to create a total of up to 64 episodes. Lommel indicated that, even though he directed episode 1, most of the remaining episodes would be directed by a series of young directors from the U.S, Europe and Asia.
Lommel was celebrated as part of the Yes! Yes! Yes! Warholmania event at the 2015 Munich Film Festival. Several screenings of his works with Warhol took place alongside a series of special interviews.
Filmography
As director
Haytabo (1971)
The Tenderness of Wolves (1973)
Jodeln is ka Sünd (1974)
Wachtmeister Rahn (1974)
(1975)
Adolf and Marlene (1977)
Ausgerechnet Bananen (1978)
Cocaine Cowboys (1979)
Blank Generation (1980)
The Boogeyman (1980)
BrainWaves (1982)
The Devonsville Terror (1983)
Olivia, also known as Double Jeopardy and Prozzie (1983)
Strangers in Paradise (1984)
Revenge of the Stolen Stars (1985)
I.F.O.: Identified Flying Object (1987)
Heaven and Earth (1987)
Overkill (1987)
Cold Heat (1989)
WarBirds (1989)
The Big Sweat (1991)
Marilyn, My Love (1994)
Daniel – Der Zauberer (2004)
Zombie Nation (2005)
Zodiac Killer (2005)
B.T.K. Killer (2005)
Green River Killer (2005)
Killer Pickton (2005)
Diary of a Cannibal (2006)
The Raven (2006)
Black Dahlia (2006)
Curse of the Zodiac (2007)
The Tomb (2007)
Borderline Cult (2007)
Killer Nurse (aka: Angel of Death 2007)
Nightstalker (2007)
Baseline Killer (2008)
Son of Sam (2008)
Dungeon Girl (2008) (aka: Blood Dungeon, 2012)
Absolute Evil (2008)
D.C. Sniper (2009)
Mondo Americana (2017)
America: Land of the Freeks (2017)
Factory Cowboys: Working with Warhol (2018)
Queen of Rio (2018)
Genus X (2018)
As actor
Ich bin auch nur eine Frau (1962)
Die endlose Nacht (1963) – junger Mann (uncredited)
Das große Liebesspiel (1963)
Fanny Hill (1964) – Charles
Old Surehand (1965) – Surehand's Scout (voice, uncredited)
Maigret and His Greatest Case (1966) – René Delfosse
Final PMP (1968)
Detectives (1969) – Sebastian West
Love Is Colder Than Death (1969) – Bruno
Deine Zärtlichkeiten (1969) – Stefan / Brother
The American Soldier (1970) – Tony le Gitano
Der gelbe Koffer (1970) – The Composer
Anglia (1970)
Rio das Mortes (1971, TV Movie) – Autohändler
Whity (1971) – Frank Nicholson
Beware of a Holy Whore (1971) – Korbinian, Aufnahmeleiter
Haytabo (1971) – (uncredited)
The Italian Connection (1972) – Dancer
The Sensuous Three (1972) – Raymond
Adolf und Marlene (1973) – Hans Grans (voice, uncredited)
World on a Wire (1973, TV Mini-Series) – Rupp, Journalist
Effi Briest (1974) – Major Crampas
Con la música a otra parte (1974) – The Composer
Shadow of Angels (1976) – Der kleine Prinz / Little Prince
Satan's Brew (1976) – Lauf
Chinese Roulette (1976) – Kolbe
Adolf und Marlene (1977) – Joseph Goebbels
Ausgerechnet Bananen (1978) – Max
Blank Generation (1980) – Hoffritz
Olivia (1983) – The Detective
Boogeyman II (1983) – Mickey Lombard
Strangers in Paradise (1984) – Jonathan Sage / Hitler
Revenge of the Stolen Stars (1986) – Max Stern
Hors Saison (1992) – Prof. Malini
Sex Crimes (1992) – Davis
Every Minute Is Goodbye (1996) – Teddy
Bloodsuckers (1997) – Angelo / Santano
September Song (2001) – Valentin Reiner
Daniel – Der Zauberer (2004) – Johnny
Zombie Nation (2004) – Dr. Melnitz
Absolute Evil (2009) – Rick
Melancholie der Engel (2009) – Katze als Engel (voice)
Shpion (2012) – Josef 'Sepp' Dietrich
Carcinoma (2014) – Krankenpfleger
Mondo Americana (2015) – Ulli
Julia 17 - (2017) – Mysterious Director
Factory Cowboys: Working with Warhol (2018) – Himself
Queen of Rio (2018) – Rick
Genus X (2018) – Chief Commander
As producer
Anglia (1970)
Whity (1971)
Con la música a otra parte (1975)
The Boogeyman (1980)
Fassbinder in Hollywood (2002)
Daniel – Der Zauberer (2004)
References
Bibliography
"Video Watchdog" (USA) April 1998, Iss. 42, pg. 26+, by: Jeff Frentzen, "The Weird World of Ulli Lommel."
"The Globe and Mail" (Canada) 19 September 2006. by: Robert Matas, "I'm okay with being attacked." An interview with Ulli Lommel about the controversy surrounding his movie Killer Pickton.
"Release Print" (USA), Jan./Feb. 2007, by: Elina Shatkin, "Wolf Among Wolves: The Voluptuous Horror of Ulli Lommel."
Dark Side Magazine (UK) Issue 113. February. March 2005. by: Christopher O'Neill. Meet The Boogeyman.
Dark Side Magazine (UK) Issue 125. February. March 2007. by: Calum Waddell. Return of the Boogeyman.
External links
Fucking Liberty! review by Bill Krohn
Fucking Liberty! review (German)
1944 births
2017 deaths
People from Sulęcin
German film directors
People from Bad Nauheim
Horror film directors
German male film actors
People associated with The Factory
People from the Province of Brandenburg