By Janet Ekstract
NEW YORK – Two of the world’s most iconic artists, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat will be revived in a posthumous tribute to their lives and collaboration in art, on Broadway and in a film that begins shooting next month on New York’s Lower East Side. The Collaboration was written for stage as a play, showcasing the talents of actors Paul Bellamy and Jeremy Pope who will star in both the Broadway production and the film. In essence, the play reimagines conversations and conflicts Warhol had, as well as those of Basquiat as they collaborated on an exhibition. The play became a smash hit and box-office success under the helm of artistic director of the Young Vic, Kwame Kwei-Armah who took the production to the next level and will be making his feature film debut with the screenplay adaptation. Kwei-Armah who has been the artistic director at the Young Vic since 2018, has staged a multitude of award-winning hits.
Unlike the original play, staged at the Young Vic, the film version will go into more detail about the two artists’ lives and New York in the 80s. The playwright, four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten, a writer and producer whose biographical films are iconic – The Theory of Everything and Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody is busy reworking The Collaboration for the film. What makes this production uniquely special is the fact that its artistic director has strict procedures to follow for any artwork used in the film and the way in which he brings his original perspective to the artists. Kwei-Armah also consulted with the estates of Basquiat and Warhol on each and every piece to be depicted with the stipulation that any artwork created by Jeremy Pope, also an artist, has to be destroyed at the end of each show.
A quintessential production like this comes along once in a blue moon, with an opportunity to showcase the depth and breadth of both artist’s legacies and their inner workings as well as inner demons. Warhol known for his iconic screen prints of famous movie stars, paintings of Campbell soup cans and other ‘Americana’ was a complicated character whose rise to fame made him one of America’s most sought-after artists. Basquiat, whose graffiti scribblings on issues surrounding social injustice, were first depicted on building walls in various locations in New York City, was always bold. Basquiat’s work questioned the societal status quo with often exaggerated figures and lines that were symbolic of the times. Two larger than life personalities who died way before their time and could never have fathomed the vast amounts of money, their work would sell for one day – this tribute to their lives is not to be missed.
