Matthew Barney Destroys the Chrysler Building

Deep in the catacomb-like foundations of the Chrysler Building, a zombie creature emerges from the murky soil; a five car demolition derby ensues in the luminous Art Deco lobby of the building; and its 180-foot needle spire, transformed into a colossal maypole, crowns man's ambitious if not vain attempts to reach the heavens. Death, resurrection, self-destruction and spiritual transcendence become the basis for Matthew Barney's delirious and fantastical interpretation of the construction of the Chrysler Building in Cremaster 3—the final installment (they were made out of order) in his five-part epic, The Cremaster Cycle, now on view at the Guggenheim Museum.
While it may not be uncommon to see glimpses of notable works of architecture in films, the Chrysler Building is itself a character in Cremaster 3, and in many ways, is the protagonist of this tale where inner conflicts and external obstacles beset the tower as it nears completion. The story is set vaguely in the 1930's and it traces the construction of the tower through a visual narrative that is so stunningly beautiful that it makes up for the lack of dialogue.

The story centers on an ongoing struggle between the building's architect, Hiram Abiff—a character from Masonic lore—and the Entered Apprentice, a rugged looking fellow played by Barney. Despite the architect's attempts to complete the structure, Barney spends most of the film trying to sabotage the skyscraper by ascending from lobby to spire through the elevator shaft. At the same time, the tower has begun to implode at its base. In the lobby, five 1967 Chrysler Crown Imperials begin ramming into each other, ruthlessly attacking and destroying a 1930's Chrysler Imperial New Yorker and trashing the marble entrance hall of tower in the process. Barney has gotten hold of an elevator car and filling it with concrete, he sends it plummeting to the ground floor. The tower itself is placed at the heart of the conflict. Torn between the hostile interactions of these characters who systematically scheme, order, build, betray, and destroy, the building begins to assume an eerie life-like presence. One can almost hear it whispering as it creaks and howls to the silent gestures of the characters who battle for dominance over it.
 

Photo © Todd Spencer In the midst of the Chrysler Building's story, the film's narrative makes a short excursion to the Guggenheim Museum for an episode called "The Order" where the architect and apprentice appear again as opponents. Again, architecture is placed at the heart of their struggle. Barney must climb the vertical side of the museum's ramps to reach the architect, played by the sculptor Richard Serra, who is throwing petroleum jelly against a black canvas on the top tier. Along the way, the apprentice meets chorus girls, punk bands, and a half-woman/half-leopard temptress.

 

Production for Cremaster 3 began in the summer of 2000 and took almost two years to complete. Surprisingly, considering how much of the Chrysler Building appears in the film, very little of the footage was filmed inside the actual skyscraper. Rather, this gleaming silver tower is a product of meticulously detailed production sets, fantastically deceptive digital effects, helicopter footage, and an ambitious imagination that knows no boundaries between film, sculpture and architecture.

Like most of Barney's productions, Cremaster 3 was not scripted, sequenced, or even storyboarded. "Working with Barney is an organic process," says Production Designer, Matthew Ryle, "It starts out with a vague idea of what we want to do and from there parts of the story are added and slowly dissolve into each other, becoming more complex as we go along. Before we know it the project has taken on a scale that is beyond anything we could have ever imagined." Cremaster 3 originally began as a zombie/gangster film and later evolved into a zombie/gangster film with a demolition derby. The idea for the maypole came later, as did the sets, costumes, and narrative.

Barney selected the location for the film several years before production began. He wanted to recreate the Chrysler Building as it looked during its construction in the 1930's. After researching old photographs of the tower, the digital effects artists, Matthew Wallin and Adam Martinez of the Mantron Corporation, applied scaffolding to a digital model of building to resemble its exterior during construction. "We grafted planks, beams, and metal framing to the computer model," says Matt Wallin. "It became this lattice type structure that Barney said reminded him of a beehive."

The maypole also posed a challenge. Initially, Barney had hoped to turn the 180-foot spire into a real-life maypole, but given the cost and danger of this proposal, getting permission seemed unlikely. Instead, he asked Wallin and Martinez to digitally render the scene using exterior footage of the building shot by helicopter. A number of scenes were also shot in the actual spire of the tower.

Later, sets were built to stage the rest of the filming. For instance, The Cloud Club, a private aerie, had to be completely reconstructed as a production set. By the time production had begun on the film, the actual Cloud Club had been entirely gutted. In reconstructing the space, Barney took liberties with its design, modeling it on photos of bars he had seen in Dublin. The Cloud Club was also positioned further up in the tower to incorporate the triangular windows, giving the space an off-balanced feel.

The elevator car that Barney sends plummeting to the lobby was also reconstructed as a set. Yet, Barney actually climbed elevator cables for the scene in the shaft. It was filmed in a neighboring fifty-story tower. Athletic agility and physical endurance have been recurring themes in Barney's work, often involving a character ascending and descending through a structure. Despite the strenuous and often dangerous circumstances, Barney prefers to perform all his own stunts. "That's kind of his thing," says Ryle. In Cremaster 3, in addition to the elevator shaft sequence, Barney scales the vertical sides of the ramps of the Guggenheim.

All the scenes set in the Guggenheim were shot in the museum's rotunda, including the shots of Barney climbing the ramps. With a four-day window to set-up, film, and break down the set, Ryle appropriately describes it as being the Mount Everest of shoots. "It was a circus," says Ryle, "there was the equipment for the bands, dancing girls, the cameras, the lighting equipment…. And the museum was still open, so there were people watching the shoot."

Barney got the idea for the demolition derby from the fact that in the 1930's, there was a car showroom on the ground floor of the Chrysler Building. The lobby set was among the last to be built. The entire scene was built and filmed in a warehouse in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Before the set was built, the walls, floors, and ceilings of the actual lobby were photographed and after some Photoshop work, reproduced on vinyl and paper by a billboard company. The lobby that appears in the film is mostly made of paper glued on 1/4" plywood board. The set had to be impact-proof, so all of the walls were constructed in front of six-ton concrete blocks. Red clay dust, matching the marble in the lobby, was added to the wall cavities, so any impact would look like marble being pulverized. The dimensions of the set are slightly larger than those of the actual lobby. Yet, according to Ryle, "Once six cars are placed in what seems like a relatively large space, it all of a sudden becomes a lot smaller." The set took around six weeks to build.

For the actual scene, the production crew purchased five 1967 Chrysler Crown Imperials and one 1938 Chrysler Imperial New Yorker. The first couple days of filming were spent choreographing the crashes. The drivers often communicated through walkie-talkies as they circled and took turns ramming into the 1938 model. Each day, a piece of the 1938 model was removed to give the effect of its being pulverized. In the last couple of shots, Barney pretty much turned the cars loose on each other. "At night, the drivers would have a couple beers with dinner," says Ryle, "By around 2 AM they were ready to pummel each other and the set. The drivers were all good friends, so they knew their limits." It took four days of filming and several sixpacks of beer to finally bring down the set.

In a film that celebrates the dual urges of creation and destruction, it is only appropriate that this theme is reflected in the making of the film itself. Perhaps, for Barney, the film and its creation are two processes that mirror each other: in the end, the tower is the only character left standing. Both the architect and apprentice are struck down, presumably for their arrogance. The vicious 1967 Chrysler Crown Imperials have left its lobby, and its spire remains poking through the New York City skyline. The tower outlives its creators, just as the film or the artwork itself survives the process of its creation.

7/18–7/24/03 Starz Film Center - Denver, CO
7/23–7/27/03 Prince Music Theater - Philadelphia, PA
8/1–8/7/03 Cinema 21 - Portland, OR
8/7/03 Landmark Tivoli Theater - St. Louis, MO
9/12–9/18/03 Flicks Movie Theater - Boise, ID
10/3–10/9/03 Real Art Ways - Hartford, CT
12/6–12/7/03 International Film Series - Boulder, CO