Paul Bettanymade waves in 2022 when he took on the challenging task of portraying theiconicAndy Warholin 2022 in the West End in London. Bettany starred alongsideJeremy Popein the playThe Collaboration, with Pope portrayingJean-Michel Basquiat. The collaboration, and artistic partnership between Warhol, known for his American pop art, and Basquiat, with his neo-expressionist paintings, is one of the most famous in modern art history.
Written byAnthony McCarten, the play explores the dynamics of their relationship, the intersection of their vastly different backgrounds, artistic visions, and the impact they had on each other’s work. Set in the 1980s, a pivotal era for the New York art scene, the play delves into the unlikely friendship that develops between Warhol, who was at that time a famous figure in the art world, andBasquiat, a rising star known for his raw, emotive, and often politically charged works. The play examines the challenges and triumphs they face as they attempt to collaborate on a series of paintings, despite their contrasting styles and perspectives on art and fame.
In 2022, it was announced that the play would be adapted into a feature film, withKwame Kwei-Armah, making his directorial debut in film, having handled it on stage. McCarten, meanwhile, has labeled the production the second in his “Worship Trilogy” after theOscar-nominatedThe Two Popes. The final installment of the trilogy is set to beWednesday at Warren’s, Friday at Bill’s, the upcoming McCarten-scripted dramatization about the meetings between Warren Buffett and Bill Gates that led to the founding of The Giving Pledge, which encourages the most wealthy people in society to give their fortunes to philanthropic causes.
How Difficult Was Playing Andy Warhol for Paul Bettany?
Speaking with Collider’sMaggie Lovittat MegaCon in Orlando, Bettany explained the challenges he faced when taking on the role of the notoriously enigmatic artist, who was utterlyenamored with the culture of celebrity, consumerism, and the mundane aspects of everyday life, but fiercely guarded and introverted, which made portraying him all the more difficult.
“Playing Andy Warhol was… hard. Hopefully you won’t see that when you see the movie. Yeah, it was hard! If you look at all of the footage or interviews of Warhol, it’s all quite carefully curated public persona, and when they asked me to do it originally, I said no, because I thought maybe there’s a reason Andy Warhol is always a cameo in films. And then they told me it was about Andy Warhol and [Jean-Michel] Basquiat, and I know their collaboration really well. I already had lots of books on the subject, and I was fascinated by that era of Warhol’s life with this beautiful young man coming up behind him and taking over the art world by storm, and the jealousy or terror that must have been present in Warhol, and so then I said yes, and then the work began.”
The Collaborationwas shot in late 2022 and is awaiting a release date.It also starsMelissa BarreraandDaniel Brühl. Stay tuned for updates on the release ofThe Collaboration.
