Director Mark Helfrich is primarily a film guy, with credits that include directing the Dane Cook/Jessica Alba comedy Good Luck Chuck, and editing Predator, Showgirls, Rush Hour, Scary Movie, X-Men: The Last Stand, Four Christmases and a whole lot more. Despite that block-buster and clearly mainstream Curriculum Vitae, his inspirations for The Dandy Warhols video "And Then I Dreamt Of Yes" are a whole lot deeper, older and much more German than you'd expect. The Dandies are portrayed in a watery somnambulist state — with eyes painted over their eyelids — as naked figures that could have been pulled from a Leni Riefenstahl film gracefully writhe in that same room full of water. And in one final tie-in to the song title, Helfrich recreates nightmare scenes from the vintage silent classic The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari. In other words: It's way cooler than Good Luck Chuck.
Zia McCabe, The Dandy Warhols: "We as a band have a soft spot for old, vintagy, trippy stuff so Mark getting inspiration from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari fit perfectly with our aesthetic. We had no problem coming up with our individual 'looks' for this video and filming with water pouring over us and having our eyes closed through entire shots was an interesting challenge. Mark and his crew did a fantastic job and any input we had during the final editing was minimal. I'm so glad such a beautiful piece of film was made for my favorite song on the album." [from DandyWarhols.com]
Mark Helfrich, director: "When I was listening to the song over and over again, [I kept having] visions of water. And for some reason, it just popped into my head -- the somnambulist from "Caligari" -- so I thought I should integrate that. And I thought it would be fun to try to emulate the look of a 1919 film." [from IFC interview]
--> watch "And Then I Dreamt Of Yes" via an exclusive IFC premiere, plus read an interview with director Mark Helfert and see Behind-The-Scenes photos at IFC.com
The Dandy Warhols "And Then I Dreamt of Yes" (Beat The World/World's Fair)
Mark Helfert, director
