Basquiat (film)

Basquiat
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJulian Schnabel
Screenplay byJulian Schnabel
Story byLech Majewski
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRon Fortunato
Edited byMichael Berenbaum
Music by
Production
company
Eleventh Street Productions
Distributed byMiramax Films
Release date
  • August 9, 1996 (1996-08-09)
Running time
106 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Spanish
Budget$3.3 million
Box office$3 million[2]

Basquiat is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed, written and co-composed by Julian Schnabel in his feature directorial debut. The film is based on the life of American postmodernist/neo expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. It is the first film about an American painter written and directed by another artist.[3]

Jeffrey Wright portrays Basquiat, a Brooklyn-born artist who used his graffiti roots as a foundation to create collage-style paintings on canvas. David Bowie plays Basquiat's friend and mentor, pop artist Andy Warhol. Additional cast members include Gary Oldman as a character based on Schnabel, Michael Wincott as the poet and art critic Rene Ricard, Dennis Hopper as Bruno Bischofberger, Parker Posey as gallery owner Mary Boone, and Claire Forlani, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, Courtney Love, Tatum O'Neal, and Benicio del Toro in supporting roles as "composite characters".

  1. ^ "BASQUIAT (15)". British Board of Film Classification. December 6, 1996. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference mojo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Weinreich, Regina (August 11, 1996). "Schnabel Becomes a Director To Film the Life of Basquiat". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 8, 2021.