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Sigismondi, 31, who was born in Italy and lives in Canada, says she never aims to shock, though she usually strikes a nerve: "I try and look for beauty in darkness, to make some kind of harmony in the images." In her video for shock-rocker Manson's Tourniquet, we are treated to the sight of Manson shaving his own armpit; in Sigismondi's clip for The Beautiful People, we see writhing worms, rows of stomping fascistic boots and Manson's mouth pushed open by some cruel dental device. The songs themselves are dumb and brutal, but the videos have a ghastly playfulness that evokes David Lynch and Federico Fellini.
So, of course, Hollywood is calling. In the past few years other video directors have made the jump from MTV to feature films; David Fincher, who created videos for Madonna, went on to direct Seven and the forthcoming thriller The Game. Sigismondi says movie scripts have been "flooding in," but that she hasn't chosen a project. Williams is developing a live-action Fat Albert feature for Bill Cosby. Hunter has signed to direct a film for HBO, and Glazer is working on the movie Gangsta Number One. But none of them have yet decided to leave videos for movies permanently. Says Glazer: "I don't believe you graduate from one to another." Meeting rock stars, attending awards shows--who would want to leave a film school like this anyway?
--With reporting by Patrick E. Cole/Los Angeles and David E. Thigpen/New York