The Darren Aronofsky-directed video for 'The View', from LOU REED & METALLICA's album Lulu, will premiere exclusively today (Saturday, December 3rd) at 10 AM on IFC.com and will be promoted on the IFC television network. Although the original plan was to shoot a performance video of 'Iced Honey', when everyone got together, it became obvious 'The View' was the way to go.

"The first time I heard 'The View' I was stunned," said Darren 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 Lou 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's 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."

A collaboration between Reed and Metallica, Lulu includes a set of extended songs inspired by German expressionist Frank Wedekind's early 20th century plays Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box, and were a rewrite of Edgar Allan Poe's, The Raven, which emerged as a graphic novel on Fantagraphics Press.

Lulu has been panned by critics around the globe and sales have been dismal. Check out BraveWords.com's take on the album here.

A full EPK for Lulu can be seen below: