Lou Reed and METALLICA tapped award-winning director Darren Aronofsky to helm a music video for their collaborative track "The View". The clip, which features scenes that were shot in the San Francisco Bay Area, can be seen below (courtesy of IFC.com). Also involved with the project as director of photography is Aronofsky's cameraman, Matthew Libatique, who has worked on all of Aronofsky's feature releases — which include such Oscar-nominated films as "Black Swan" and "The Wrestler" — and has been a cinematographer for several Spike Lee films.

Although the original plan was to shoot a performance video of "Iced Honey", when Darren got together with Lou and METALLICA at the band's San Rafael studio, it became obvious "The View" was the way to go.

"The first time I heard 'The View', I was stunned," said Aronofsky. "I had never heard anything like it. Half was all Lou. The other half all METALLICA. It was a marriage that on the surface made no sense, but the fusion changed the way I thought about both artists and morphed into something completely fresh and new. I couldn't stop listening to it. Lou's crushing lyrics, and the band's incredible licks. It's so original and that's why I wanted to work on it."

"I am very excited about working with Darren Aronofsky on our powerful video, 'The View'," said Reed. "I feel Darren understood the power and range of the emotions fueled by the fire of METALLICA. His strength and spirit are on display in every frame and I think he has caught the anger, rage and anguish at the bottom of the soul of real rock. A literate man for a literate song. As exciting as the music and that's a big compliment. Possibly the best video ever made. Black and white filmic noir."

"To have a song like 'The View' visualized through the eyes and magic touch of Darren Aronofsky is beyond my wildest dream," said METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich. "The marriage between images, music, and words in this video is indescribably thrilling and I am so next level psyched to be involved in a project that brings together the creative minds of Darren Aronofsky, Lou Reed... and The 'TALLICA."

"The View" is featured on METALLICA's collaborative album with Lou Reed, titled "Lulu", which has polarized fans around the world and earned the band some of the most scathing reviews of its career. The effort features the former THE VELVET UNDERGROUND frontman's spoken-word poetry and lyrics combined with METALLICA's musical assault for a jarring experience that doesn't sound like anything METALLICA has ever attempted before. A concept album based on two early 20th century plays by German author Frank Wedekind, the CD was co-produced by Reed, METALLICA, Hal Willner — who has produced albums for Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Laurie Anderson, among others — and Greg Fidelman. Fidelman also mixed the record.

So, do such bad reviews affect the heavy-metal veterans? Lars Ulrich tells the Hindustan Times, "We have read a lot of reviews. They were quite interesting, as people haven't focused on what the album really is." Vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield adds, "Anyway the album is very special to us and we had a fantastic experience recording it."

The collaboration between METALLICA and Reed was sparked by their performance together of Reed's "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat" at the 25th anniversary of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame at Madison Square Garden in October of 2009.

The songs were all written by Reed with extensive arrangement contributions by METALLICA.

Only two songs on the album are under five minutes in length, while two are more than 11 minutes long and the closing cut, "Junior Dad", clocks in at 19 minutes.

"Lulu" sold just under 1,400 copies copies in the United States in its fourth week of release, bringing the CD's cumulative sales to 20,000. The effort dropped off The Billboard 200 chart after debuting at position No. 36 with first-week sales of 13,000.