DOWNTOWN 81
07/03/2010

I recently saw a film borrowed from a friend. It has left me thinking, reminding me of some people and things….i think you should look into it.

I did a quick search on http://theplaylist.blogspot.com to save you some time:

 “DOWNTOWN 81”

"[...]'81' starred late downtown New York art phenom Jean-Michel Basquiat (then only 19-years-old) in a quasi-documentary/elliptical urban fairytale of the hip, post post-punk, proto-hip-hop subculcha happenins of the Gray Ladies' early '80s Village scene (the film

features such early Village hipsters as Melle Mel, John Lurie, Deborah Harry of Blondie, Lydia Lunch, performance artist Tav Falco, graffiti artist Lee Quinones, Fab Five Freddy, NY filmmaker Amos Poe, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, James White and the Blacks, Arto Linsday and DNA, Tuxedo Moon, the Plastics, and Walter Steding and the Dragon People).

Music in the film (and on the soundtrack) features the Brian Eno curated No New York no-wave era bands like Suicide, DNA, Liquid Liquid and Basquiat’s own band, Gray which included pre-filmmaking/acting Vincent Gallo ).

The film (originally titled "New York Beat Movie") was actually abandoned in the '80s due to financing issues, but resurrected in 1999 by producer Maripol Fauque and belatedly released in 2000. Having been lost for many years, the audio for the film went missing and or was unusable. Producers were able to get most of the original cast to re-dub their dialogue, but being that Jean Michel Basquiat died in 1988, spoken word artist Saul Williams was hired to dub Basquiat's dialogue...[...]”

AND ALSO...

Writer Glenn O’Brien, who knew Basquiat from his TV Party program and the Mudd Club, said of the movie: “Pennyless, Jean-Michel was kicked out of his apartment, then tried to sell his paintings for daily income. He showed up at clubs and tried to pick up girls to go to her apartment to have someplace to sleep. Basically, it was based on his real life…” O'Brien had worked for Andy Warhol, and had adopted his technique of having actors essentially play themselves with a minimal plot. “The film is an exaggerated version of life” he said.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was homeless at the time of the movie, and slept in the production office during most of the shooting. He used the money he got from the movie to buy canvas and paints. The paintings that appear in the movie belonging to Basquiat’s character are by Basquiat himself, and among his first canvases.

Debbie Harry (who plays the fairy princess who gives him money), and her husband, both of the band Blondie, bought a painting of Basquiat’s for $100 after the end of shooting.