Zoe Tamerlis Lund, born in New York City to a Swedish mother and a Russian father was an accomplished musician, model, actress, writer and political activist by the time she was twenty. Sadly, like many others who burn so brightly so early in life, she died tragically young at the age of forty-seven.
Most would likely recognize Lund from her small role in Bad Lieutenant (1992) or for starring in Ms. 45 (1981), a tense vigilante tale inspired by Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) and Death Wish (1974) that offers something a little more complicated than the average rape and revenge film.
Thana (Lund), a meek garment worker is sexually assaulted twice in the same afternoon on her way home from work. After killing her second rapist with a clothes iron, she picks up the eponymous .45 caliber handgun he brought with him and embarks on what some critics have deemed a misandric killing spree and others a revenge quest against casual misogyny and rape culture. Thana's victims are not randomized passer-by but are all shown to be menacing, harassing or abusing women in the moments before she attacks them. The film demonstrates that casually chauvinistic behaviors and benevolent sexism are sometimes not so far away from overt misogyny.Film historians remark on the negative press the film apparently received on its release, but a search of the archives of Screen, Sight and Sound and the BFI Library at London's Southbank turned up little in the way of press period upon its release. However, the collection of clippings at ZoeLund.com suggests that the reaction of contemporary critics and cinephiles was overall positive, and in a cursory glance of the press highlights one can see almost unanimous critical praise for Lund and her portrayal of Thana.
After starring in Ms. 45 Lund played a dual roles as Mary Jean and Elaine in the 1984 thriller Special Effects. Eric Bogosian is Chris Neville, a big budget director who makes dark and dirty home movies in his spare time. After murdering a would-be actress (Lund as Mary Jane), Neville decides to make a feature about the incident, casting a dead-ringer (Lund again as Elaine) to play the murdered woman.
Often categorized as an 'Underground' film, Tony Williams published a fascinating essay on its narrative and stylistic references to Hitchcock's films, and more than one critic has pointed out the film's similarities to Vertigo (1958).
In between Special Effects and Bad Lieutenant, Zoe did some television work, appearing as a recurring minor character Chickie on Hothouse (1988) and playing Miranda in the 1985 episode of Miami Vice, "The Prodigal Son". In 1989 she starred in a short film The Houseguest and played the femme fatale Belinda Maloney in Exquisite Corpses.
Though IMDB lists four writers for Bad Lieutenant, Lund stated in a television interview with Media Funhouse that she wrote the script alone, and Ferra himself described their collaboration as "I'd tell her a bunch of shit and she'd make sense of it".The first draft was turned around very quickly, with Lund writing it in under two weeks.
According to the same interview with Media Funhouse, the famous Vampire Speech was written on set, just minutes before the scene was filmed. Lund says that she wrote the speech, memorized it, and did it in one take. Her scenes with Harvey Kietel have been described as "intense and riveting" and the film itself has garnered critical acclaim the world over and continues to be recognized as a "uncompromising work of art" with "an undeniable morality".
The following year Lund wrote, directed and starred in a short film of her own, Hot Ticket (1993). Though the film in its entirety is less than two minutes, it is a striking piece and Zoe's utterance of "that which is not yet, but ought to be, is more real than that which merely is" stays with the viewer long after the end. Lund continued to work in film in the mid and late '90s and the last feature-length pieces in which she appeared were Hand Gun (1994) and the German language film Dreamland (1997).
In 1999, she died in Paris from heart failure. While it's difficult not to brood on her death at such a tragically young age, Zoe Tamerlis Lund left behind an impressive body of work in her films, her writings, her musical compositions and social activism. Her bright light is missed in the film world, but the works she left are intensely, sometimes strangely illuminating for many of us.
For Your Viewing Pleasure:
Zoe Tamerlis Lund on the Script of Bad Lieutenant (1992) - Interview with Media Funhouse
Special Effects (1984) - Film Trailer
Hot Ticket (1993) - Lund's Short Film (Low Fidelity)
Zoe Tamerlis Lund on Sex and Drugs in Bad Lieutenant (1992) - Interview with Media Funhouse
Further Reading:
ZoeLund.com - The official website of Zoe Tamerlis Lund, this is an impressive collection of interviews, press clippings, writings, photographs, film and video clips, as well as others' essays analyzing Lund's works. Created and maintained by her former husband, Robert Lund.
Exploitation Retrospect Interview with Zoe Lund - Originally ran in ER #37
Paul Rachman Remembers Zoe Lund - Interview in Filmmaker Magazine.
