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30 years on, Mary Harron's groundbreaking film about Valerie Solanas blisteringly reflects a society gone awry

Published April 29, 2026 12:00PM (EDT)

Lili Taylor as Valerie Solanas in "I Shot Andy Warhol" (IFC/Janus Films)

When asked by reporters why she hated prolific pop artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol enough to shoot him with a pistol, Valerie Solanas — one of the many young, destitute and desperate people fading in and out of Warhol’s glamorous circle — simply replied , “Because he’s him.” Later headlines would say that Solanas believed Warhol “controlled her life” and that he had “legal claim” over her self-published writing, which she frequently badgered him to read. By all accounts, Solanas was furious with Warhol for refusing to produce her written works for the stage or screen.…