I’m a Hal Hartley fan. So I was stunned to learn that Hartley staple Adrienne Shelley was found dead in her New York office. Nobody knows the cause of death, but Shelley leaves us a film called Waitress, which she wrote and directed.
© 2006, Edward Champion. All rights reserved.
It wasn’t her office, really. I mean, she did run her production company out of her apartment, but she was found hanging from the shower rod in her bathroom.
Correction: I knew Adrienne pretty well about 5 years ago. We worked together on her first two films she directed herself (a short and a feeature). Adrienne lived in a loft in Tribeca (now with her family)…but she was found dead in her West Village 1bedroom apt that she used exclusively as a production office and place to write. Yes there was a bathroom there—but it WAS her office. I DO NOT believe for a minute she killed herself. She left no note and has a 3 year old daughter. She was bright and sunny but physically petite. She was the kind of girl men liked to try to take advantage of because she seemed doll-like. My gut instinct says she was murdered. I will be watching the autoposy and police reports closely. Surely there is something that will reveal what happened that day.
I totally agree… Adrienne had WAY too much going on.. she was clearly (from her performances in character and how she spoke in Rosanna Arquettes film) an inspired human being… her work was amazing and she had an ethereal aura with a sense of humour … I definitely think this was set up to LOOK like a suicide. People who have small kids and a repertoire of friends don’t just up and hang themselves and even IF she were ever to have to think up a suicide for a role/character study, no way would Adrienne shelley find something reverent or meaningful in a showerrod of a bathroom. THIS NEWS SUCKS.
Well, you were right, cvf, but having a child and not leaving a note isn’t a reason to think that she didn’t kill herself. Nevertheless, the word is that some construction worker punched her in the face, killing her and then covered it up by trying to make it look like a suicide. The entire thing seems super duper fishy.