Anthony McCarten’s Warhol-Basquiat Stage Play ‘The Collaboration’ Heading For Big Screen; Helmer Kwame Kwei-Armah, Paul Bettany & Jeremy Pope Reprise
04.02.2022 - 00:45
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Bohemian Rhapsody scribe Anthony McCarten has scripted his stage play The Collaboration into a feature that will mark the film directorial debut of Kwame Kwei-Armah, with Paul Bettany playing the artist Andy Warhol and Jeremy Pope playing Jean-Michel Basquiat. The film will go into production later this year with McCarten producing through his Muse of Fire Productions along with oft-producing partner Denis O’Sullivan.
Both actors will reprise roles they will soon play in the stage production of the play, also directed by Kwei-Armah,. The curtain rises February 23 at London’s Young Vic Theatre, where Kwei-Armah is Artistic Director.
The Collaboration explores the extraordinary creative partnership and friendship between the two artists in the 1980s, and how their contrasting beliefs became the propulsion for their work together. It is the second of what McCarten calls his ‘Worship Trilogy,’ works that explore the collective fascination with religion, art and money. The first leg of that was The Two Popes, the 2019 Netflix film that drew three Oscar noms, including one for McCarten’s screenplay. Third installment of the Worship Trilogy is Wednesday at Warren’s, Friday at Bill’s, the upcoming McCarten-scripted adaptation about the meetings between Warren Buffett and Bill Gates that led to the establishment of The Giving Pledge, which encourages extraordinarily wealthy people to give their fortunes to philanthropic causes.
“I’ve been a fan of both Warhol and Basquiat forever,” Bettany said. “I fell in love with their collaboration together when I saw it mounted at the Whitney in NY. I was hesitant to play Andy at first, as I believed it was too difficult to get out from underneath his carefully crafted public
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