Salome’s Last Dance

In Brief: At an early point in Ken Russell’s Salome’s Last Dance (1988), Oscar Wilde (Nickolas Grace) is surprised to see an amateur production of his banned play Salome interrupted by a photographer taking a flash picture of the proceedings. The photographer is none other than Russell himself, who is playing a visiting dignitary in the show, prompting Wilde to remark, “If your acting is as grossly indecent as your photographic studies, Kenneth, we should be in for an outrageous evening.” Indeed, this no-holds-barred filming of Wilde’s play — opened up to include Wilde as the audience for the production, which takes place in a brothel — is nothing if not outrageous. The outrageousness is especially apt considering the film’s history. The idea started around 1974 when Russell and his then-agent Robert Littman — fortified with a few drinks — called various studios with the idea that Russell could film Lindsay Kemp’s production of Salome for £120,000. Everyone wanted it — till they learned Kemp was a man in drag. Alan Ladd Jr., however, didn’t care. He saw it as a chance to balance out some expensive productions and said yes, but Russell backed out after seeing the play a second time and going cold on the idea. But then the years passed and things changed.