Zoë Lund
Zoë Tamerlis Lund | |
---|---|
Born | Zoë Tamerlis February 9, 1962 New York City, U.S.[1] |
Died | April 16, 1999 Paris, France | (aged 37)
Other names |
|
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1979–1999 |
Spouse |
Robert Lund (m. 1986) |
Partner | Edouard de Laurot (1979–1986) |
Parents |
|
Website | zoelund |
Zoë Tamerlis Lund (February 9, 1962 – April 16, 1999), also known as Zoë Tamerlis and Zoë Tamerlaine, was an American musician, model, actress, author, producer, political activist and screenwriter.
Early life
Lund was born Zoë Tamerlis[1] on February 9, 1962[3] to mother Barbara Lekberg (née Hult), an American sculptor of Swedish descent,[2][5] and Victor Tamerlis, a rare-books seller of Romanian descent.[6][7] She dropped out of college.[1]
Career
At a young age, Lund was an accomplished composer and musician; but the power of celluloid took a firmer grasp. "I could write a concerto with 17 violins that could be very powerful, but film works on a more visceral level where I can go into the collective audience and make sure my point gets across."[8] Lund was also a pianist.[2]
Ms .45
Lund made her debut in
Lund said in an interview that she had a lot of input manifesting the character: "In the beginning stages of the film, the only material that existed was vague descriptions of several scenes. Being that my face is on camera, without dialogue, for something like 98% of the time, I was involved very much. As to the film being pro-woman, I go beyond that by saying that the film is as much pro-woman as it is pro-garment worker, whatever."[8]
Although it was not an immediate success, Ms .45 eventually became a cult film in later years.
1980s work
Not wanting to become part of what she called "Abel's stable", she marked her own career path.[8]
Three years after Ms .45 was released in 1981, Lund got her second chance to star in a movie, this time in a role that required her to play two different roles.
Lund also appeared in an episode of Miami Vice, which was directed by Paul Michael Glaser and titled "Prodigal Son". She later appeared in The Houseguest (1989) and Temístocles López's Exquisite Corpses (1989).[8][10][2][3] Lund even appeared in the ABC series Hothouse.[2]
Bad Lieutenant
Despite her reluctance to be identified too closely with Ferrara's work,[8] Lund collaborated with Ferrara again on Bad Lieutenant (1992), which she co-wrote.[11][12][13] Lund also agreed to appear in the film, playing the woman who helps Harvey Keitel's title character smoke heroin.
According to Lund, "There was a lot of rewriting done on the set. Two other characters were cut, and my character modulated and took on more and more. A lot of things had to be changed and improvised. The vampire speech – which is crucial to the Lieutenant – was written two minutes before it was shot. I memorized it and did it in one take. The speech is important because she is acute in knowing the journey the Lieutenant makes. She shoots him up, sends him off, knowing of his passion, she lets him go."[8]
Lund said in an interview that Bad Lieutenant was the most personal film she had ever acted in.[8] She also claims in another interview that she wrote the screenplay all by herself.[14] She also claimed that she co-directed several scenes in Bad Lieutenant.[15]
Later career
As a director, Lund made two shorts: The Innocent Tribunal (1986) and Hot Ticket (1996).[2] She also wrote the pilot episode of FBI: The Untold Stories.[2]
Lund worked on unproduced screenplays about famous drug addicts such as
Although she had never met supermodel Gia Carangi, she was working on a biographical screenplay of Carangi's life at the time of her death, and she appeared posthumously in the documentary The Self-Destruction of Gia.[3]
According to Abel Ferrara: "...one time in the 90s, we were going to try to do Pasolini's story but only with Zoe as Pasolini; a female director living the life that Pasolini lived." However, her death led to a fifteen-year hiatus with the project until Ferrara's film Pasolini (2014) was released.[16] In 1996, Lund also wrote the first draft of New Rose Hotel (1998).[2]
Personal life and death
Aliases
Lund lived and worked under many names such as Vanessa Lancaster and Tamara Tamarind.[1]
Drug addiction
Lund was unapologetic about her
"I've known a lot of serious drug users, but Zoë was Queen," Richard Hell, a friend of Lund's, recalled in 2002. "You've got to admire someone as committed to it as she was. She didn't just LOVE heroin, she believed in it."[1]
Religion
Lund said in an interview, "...I never lost my religion. I have always had a certain increasing awareness of religion...I do believe that the
Relationships
From 1979 to 1986, she was the companion of Edouard de Laurot.[1][17] After Laurot's death in 1993, Lund bequeathed the manuscript of a novel Laurot had written to Jonas Mekas.[18]
In 1986, she started dating her future husband, Robert Lund. They lived together in an apartment located on 10th Street, and according to Paul Rachman, the Lunds reportedly owned "dozens of roaming pet rats." The couple were married on October 31, 1986, at the NYC Municipal Building with one witness in attendance, their friend Lenny Ferrari. That same year, Lund got an abortion.[19]
Although they never got divorced, Lund and her husband separated in 1997 when the former moved to Paris where she lived with "her new boyfriend" until her death in 1999.[1][5]
Death
Lund died in Paris on April 16, 1999, of heart failure, due to extended cocaine use, which replaced her long-term heroin use after her move to Paris in 1997.[8][3][4][5][20][21] She was 37.[10][2][4]
Legacy
In 2007, experimental group Bodega System released the album Blood Pyx. The cover features Lund as photographed by her widower, Robert Lund.
In the early 2000s, American Hardcore director Paul Rachman made two documentary shorts about Lund's life: Zoe XO (2004) and Zoe Rising (2009). In the former short, Robert Lund discusses their relationship, while in the latter Zoë's mother Barbara Lekberg focuses more on her childhood.[5]
Abel Ferrara said of Lund in a 2012 interview, "Zoë was a brilliant, creative person before the drugs, the drugs just killed her."[9]
Filmography
Film | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1981 | Ms. 45
|
Thana | Credited as Zoë Tamerlis Alternative title: Angel of Vengeance |
1984 | Special Effects | Andrea Wilcox / Elaine | Credited as Zoe Tamerlis |
Terror in the Aisles | Thana | Archival footage | |
1989 | Exquisite Corpses | Belinda Maloney | Credited as Zoë Tamerlis |
Heavy Petting | Herself | Credited as Zoe Tamerlaine | |
The Houseguest | Marla | Credited as Zoe Tamerlaine | |
1992 | Bad Lieutenant | Zoe | Writer |
1993 | Hot Ticket | Director, writer | |
1994 | Dreamland | Caroline | (final film role) |
Television | |||
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1985 | Miami Vice | Miranda | 1 episode |
1988 | Hothouse | Chickie | 7 episodes |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rubinstein, Raphael (September 2014). "MISSING FOOTAGE". The White Review. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 978-0230371941.
- ^ a b c d e f "Zoë Lund (Tamerlis)". filmfanatics.net. February 13, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Angel of Vengeance, Casualty of Obsession: Zoe Tamerlis". May 1, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Macaulay, Scott (November 1, 2011). "FILMMAKER PAUL RACHMAN REMEMBERS ZOE LUND". Filmmaker. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
- ^ "Zoë Lund | Actress, Writer, Director". IMDb. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
- ^ "Victor Tamerlis". geni_family_tree. July 14, 1920. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Exploitation Retrospect | The Zoe Lund Interview". Dantenet.com. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
- ^ a b c Walker, Luke (March 15, 2012). "Breaking Bad: The Second Coming of Abel Ferrara". thefix.com. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Mott, Allan (November 7, 2012). "Pretty in the Past: Zoë Lund". xojane.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- ^ "Mr. Beaks Gets Gutshot By Abel Ferrara's Grindhouse Classic MS. 45!". Ain't It Cool News. December 17, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- ^ Romano, Stephen (April 20, 2015). "Stephen Romano's RETRO 13 – Ms. 45". Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- ISBN 9780312131494.
- ^ Zoe Tamerlis on the script of "Bad Lieutenant" on YouTube
- ^ Zoe Tamerlis on drugs and sex in "Bad Lieutenant" on YouTube
- ^ Vestby, Ethan (December 9, 2013). "Abel Ferrara on Artistic Freedom, Collaboration, 'Ms. 45,' Pier Paolo Pasolini & More". Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ^ Milton, David Scott (September 13, 2014). "Edouard de Laurot, Film Genius and Lunatic". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
- ^ Mekas, Jonas. "Edouard de Laurot". Webofstories.com. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
- ^ "Archived copy". Facebook. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Zoë Lund And Bad Lieutenant". May 7, 2009. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
- ISBN 9780979998935.
External links
- ZoëLund.com
- Zoë Lund at IMDb
- Remembering Zoë Lund
- Zoe Tamerlis on Ms .45 on YouTube
- Zoe Tamerlis on drugs and sex in "Bad Lieutenant" on YouTube
- Zoe Tamerlis on the script of "Bad Lieutenant" on YouTube