Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait

Extravagance, provocation and genius are just some of the buzzwords that are repeatedly used in connection with Julian Schnabel. In his portrait, Pappi Corsicato looks behind the façade of the prominent painter and filmmaker and reveals the person behind the artist. Schnabel opens up his private archive, talks about his beginnings as an artist, the scandalous New York art scene of the 1980s and about artistic and personal crises such as the death of his close friend Lou Reed. Schnabel's family, friends and long-time companions such as Al Pacino, Willem Dafoe, Bono and Emmanuelle Seigner also have their say. Several of them describe both Schnabel and his work as "larger than life." Both Schnabel and his contemporaries explain how he transforms aspects of his personal life and experience into art. "Everything has a story, everything has a place. It comes from somewhere. It's emotional. He sort of takes his world, or the world as it comes to him, and he reorders it in a very personal way, says Willem Dafoe about Schnabel. "He's always playing with conventions in unconvential ways."