‘Bottomless Pit’: how Hollywood icon Karen Black bowed out with the help of Death Grips
Karen Black, the actor known for films including *Easy Rider*, *Five Easy Pieces* and *Nashville*, recorded a 15-minute reading of a film script called *Bottomless Pit* in 2013. The project connected her with Death Grips drummer Zach Hill, and the footage offers a striking late performance reflecting on happiness, fear, humanity and the universe.
Hill had invited Black to appear in a film he was developing, after music supervisor and producer Karyn Rachtman introduced them. Death Grips later used *Bottomless Pit* as the title of their 2016 album and shared Black’s monologue on YouTube in 2015, two years after her death from cancer. The article describes her direct, naturalistic delivery as especially affecting given she died a few months after recording it.
In short
- Karen Black recorded a 15-minute monologue for Zach Hill’s film script.
- Death Grips shared the footage in 2015 and later used its title for an album.
- It became one of Black’s final performances before her death in 2013.
Explained simply
Karen Black was an American actor whose career included films such as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and Nashville. She was known for performances that felt direct and natural, and worked across Hollywood films and independent projects.
Zach Hill is a drummer and a member of the experimental music group Death Grips. Music producer Karyn Rachtman introduced him to Black, and Hill invited her to record a reading from a film script he was developing, called Bottomless Pit.
Death Grips later used the script’s title for a 2016 album and shared Black’s recorded reading in 2015. Black had died of cancer in 2013, a few months after recording it; the performance is one way audiences can encounter her work from late in her life.