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In 1981, writer and Warhol associate Glenn O’Brien, Swiss photographer Edo Bertoglio, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, a graffiti innovator and noise music artist who’d just begun to exhibit his paintings, hit the streets of lower Manhattan to make a movie about the bombed out bohemia that they knew, with a script by O’Brien, Bertoglio directing, and Basquiat, a naturally compelling presence, starring. Left incomplete due to money problems and assembled for release in 2000, Downtown 81, which follows Basquiat trying to move a painting while hustling for a place to sleep, became a window on a lost world of life on the margins and crazy creative ferment. Featuring John Lurie, Fab Five Freddy, and Debbie Harry, with musical performances by DNA, James White and the Blacks, and Kid Creole and the Coconuts—and Manhattan in all its mangy glory.
Original Release
03/14/2001
US Release
07/13/2001
Links
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Jean Michel Basquiat | Jean |
Richard Weigand | Doctor |
Cyndy Schneidau | Nurse |
Millie Schneidau | Nurse |
Steven Z. Soszynski | Grocer |
Anna Schroeder | Béatrice |
Giorgio Gomelsky | Landlord |
Ted Bafaloukos | Junk Dealer |
Bobby Grossman | East Village Junkie |
Mickey Clean | Pot Dealer |
Directors
Writers
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Jean Michel Basquiat | Jean |
Richard Weigand | Doctor |
Cyndy Schneidau | Nurse |
Millie Schneidau | Nurse |
Steven Z. Soszynski | Grocer |
Anna Schroeder | Béatrice |
Giorgio Gomelsky | Landlord |
Ted Bafaloukos | Junk Dealer |
Bobby Grossman | East Village Junkie |
Mickey Clean | Pot Dealer |
Roberta Bayley | Street Girl |
Dave Street | Musician |
Tish Bellomo | Manic Panic Girl |
Snooky Bellomo | Manic Panic Girl |
Kool Kyle | Rapper / Himself - Rapper |
Claudia Summers | Friend in Park |
Tuxedomoon | Themselves |
Steven Brown | Self / Vocals, Tuxedomoon / Himself |
Peter Principle | Bass, Tuxedomoon / Self |
Blaine Reininger | Keyboard, Tuxedomoon / Self |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Michael Zilkha | Executive Producer |
Glenn O'Brien | Producer |
Maripol | Producer |
Patrick Montgomery | Producer |