'Basquiat' not historically accurate?
Matthew Smylie
On a recent post, the opinion that 'Basquiat' was less than
historically accurate came up. Now whil I'm quite knowledgeable about
Warhol's goings-on in the 60's/70's (the VU etc.) I really don't know that
much about the time frame during 'Basquiat'. Could anyone comment on
what exactly about 'Basquiat' (which rocks BTW, coming to second run
theaters soon:-) ) was historically inaccurate?
matt
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samantha wallace
mr...@earthlink.net (Matthew Smylie) wrote:
> On a recent post, the opinion that 'Basquiat' was less than
>historically accurate came up. Now whil I'm quite knowledgeable about
>Warhol's goings-on in the 60's/70's (the VU etc.) I really don't know that
>much about the time frame during 'Basquiat'. Could anyone comment on
>what exactly about 'Basquiat' (which rocks BTW, coming to second run
>theaters soon:-) ) was historically inaccurate?
Well, there are quite a few things that I can think of off the top of
my head; the girlfriend (can't remember her name) is based on one of
his ex's, but she didn't stick it out with him that long; Julian
Schnabel basically made it look like that there was only Milo (played
by Gary Oldman- sposed to be a "nice" Julian Schnabel), Andy, and
Jean-Michel. That ain't the truth at all! Basquiat was in the same
scene as Kenny Scharf, Keith Haring, Eric Fischl, David Salle, to name
a few, and they all supported/worked together, especially Haring. None
of them are mentioned in the film. None of the rappers like Fab 5
Freddy were even mentioned either, who were big influences on
Basquiat. All the paintings were Schnabel's; Basquiat's family/estate
refused Schnabel in using Basquiat's paintings for the movie.
Oh, the time frame is late 70's-early-mid 80's. Basquiat died
mid-late 80's, can't remember when exactly. The setting, haha, was a
joke. It looks like NYC in 1996, which is exactly what it is. There's
a shot of Basquiat walking by X-Girl on Lafayette, which, haha, was
not around in 84 or 85, let alone 1993. Oh yeah, they also show him
living on some street on the Lower East Side before he died, and what
they didn't say is that he was renting a carriage house owned by Andy
Warhol, which "coincidentally" is right across the street from me.
Mary Boone as portrayed by Parker Posey, was not quite bitchy enough
BUT Annina Nosei was definitely portrayed accurately !!
Oh, and I *did* enjoy the movie, all pedantic details aside, <big
stupid grin>
Samantha
"This ain't rock and roll, this is suicide!"
CygNetKS
Okay, about Basquiat's girlfriend---
In this book that I am currently reading (So fascinating!) --Holy
Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up by Bob Colacello--In it is a picture of
Basquiat and girlfriend Paige Powell; who was INTERVIEW ad director from
1983. I haven't gotten to the '80s in the book yet, so I don't know about
Basquiat and Warhol's friendship. I just flipped ahead and looked at the 2
picture sections (as Andy would say and mean it : really really really
greaaat.)
All I can say is "Oh, gee."
-Cyggy Pop(ism)haha
Frenesi Bewlay
The only thing I found inaccurate was that the Gary Oldman character,
Alfred Milo, was based on the director/artist, Julian Schnabel. So
nonfiction people are interacting with fictional characters. I thought
the film was great too, and I think that Bowie should get some
recognition for his work as an actor.
-------
Glynnis Rambaud
<EAQ...@prodigy.com>
Dara O'Kearney
In article <54crav$q...@bolivia.earthlink.net>,
mr...@earthlink.net (Matthew Smylie) wrote:
> On a recent post, the opinion that 'Basquiat' was less than
>historically accurate came up.
that matter. Movies are driven by the needs to be entertaining and
dramatic. The few movies that are meticulously accurate are generally dull
as ditchwater. Most of us realise all this deep down, yet strangely we get
all hot and bothered when a movie on our pet topic comes out and is ----
inaccurate. Remember all the computer boffins getting their knickers in a
twist over inaccurate computer stuff in "Independance Day"? What - they
thought the 'action scenes' were any more realistic?
Won't it be interesting when Bowie snuffs it and the oblig biopic follows?
Won't we all have a great time huffing and puffing about the inacuuracies?
I can see a few coming already:
"Changes" will be a big hit single in the movie (everyone assumes it was)
"Space Oddity" will be melded into the Ziggy phase (it only became
successful in the US after Ziggy)
The Hammersmith Odeon gig will be portrayed as being the 'real Spiders
retirement' (conveniently ignoring the 1980 Floor Show, not to mention the
Pin Ups album, or Mick Ronson's involvement on Diamond Dogs)
Never Let Me Down and the Glass Spider tour will be portrayed as massive
ground-breaking successes. We will see clips of Madonna, Prince, Michael
Jackson at Glass Spider concerts, nodding their heads in
"Yes-that's-how-it's-done" fashion, followed by flash forwards to the same
artists doing very similar shows
Tin Machine will be skipped, or at best glossed over
Mick Ronson will be literally 'wheeled in' to the BTWN sessions for a
heart-breaking and emotional reunion, will play a few killer riffs (cut to
Bowie nodding his head in "yes-Mick-was-the-best" fashion) which will have
nothing to do with any music that actually appeared on the album, before
expiring there and then in the studio
NIN will be glossed over (mainly because nobody will know or remember them
by then)
Anyone care to add any other obvious 'inaccuracies just waiting to happen'?
Slan libh,
Dara.
Dara O'Kearney
CygNetKS
Want to talk about a not historically correct movie::
Watch Oliver Stone's "JFK". Enough said.
-Cyggy Pop
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My mother keeps saying that O.S.'s next version of
the JFK assassination will involve aliens and UFO's.Haha!