Andy Warhol Eats a Burger King Whopper, and We Watch … and Watch

In 1982, Dan­ish film­mak­er Jør­gen Leth direct­ed 66 Scenes from Amer­i­ca, a film that stitched togeth­er a series of lengthy shots, each a visu­al post­card from a jour­ney across Amer­i­ca. And, tak­en togeth­er, you have a tableau of the Amer­i­can expe­ri­ence.

Along the way, the pop artist Andy Warhol makes his appear­ance. The man who coined the expres­sion “15 Min­utes of Fame” takes four min­utes to eat a ham­burg­er, most­ly with­out say­ing a word. And sim­ply because of his fame, we watch … and watch. About this scene Leth gives a few details:

[Warhol] is told that he has to say his name and that he should do so when he has fin­ished per­form­ing his action, but what hap­pens is that the action takes a very long time to per­form; it’s sim­ply ago­niz­ing. I have to admit that I per­son­al­ly adore that, because its a pure homage to Warhol. It could­n’t be more War­ho­lesque. That’s of course why he agreed to do it.

This was pre­sum­ably not a paid place­ment by Burg­er King.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

Warhol’s Screen Tests: Lou Reed, Den­nis Hop­per, Nico, and More

Three “Anti-Films” by Andy Warhol: Sleep, Eat & Kiss

Andy Warhol’s ‘Screen Test’ of Bob Dylan: A Clas­sic Meet­ing of Egos