John Lennon and Yoko Ono filmed Fly on 14 December 1970.
While making Up Your Legs Forever on 9 December, auditions were held for Fly. It required a female actor to lie naked and still while a fly walked over her body. The film was originally titled Film No. 11, and the premise was: “About a fly going from the toe to head of a lying naked body, crawling very slowly. The whole film should take about an hour.”
Virginia Lust was cast as the human star, and Fly was shot in a loft on the Bowery, New York City, shared by filmmakers Robert Frank and Danny Seymour. Steve Gebhardt and Bob Fries filmed Lust and the flies for nearly 24 hours, using CO2 to slow the insects’ movements.
Page last updated: 19 February 2026