In New York, Jeffrey Wright's known for his portrayal of a gay nurse in the Broadway production of Angels in America which won him every New York theatre award, including a Tony. But the role of Jean Michel Basquiat is his first lead in a feature film. By Cecilia Peck
How did you get the part of Basquiat?
The day I left Angels In America, I got a call from Randy Sabusawa who was helping to cast the role of Basquiat. He put me on tape. At the time I was concerned about finding a part that would keep the momentum that I had from Angels going, and when I heard about Basquiat, I knew that was it.
How did you prepare for the role?
Well I immersed myself in his work.I talked to a few people who knew him before his rise, and during thefall. There was Michael Holman, and Vincent Gallo, who was in a bandwith him. The guy who wrote the chronology for the Whitney retrospective gave me everything that was ever written on him.
How does Basquiat's painting affect you?
I understand the language an innate language that I know. It's provocative, it's everything that art's supposed to be. It's dynamic, it's powerfully colourful, it's ironic, and implicitly and explicitly social and political.
You were adamant about keeping a racial dynamic in the story. Did you have a conflict with Schnabel about that?
Not so much, but it wasn't initially his emphasis, because it's not the story that he knows. But it's the story that I knew, that I know, from my life.
You said you felt a strong presence from Jean Michel while you were doing the movie.
Well that's what you try to open yourself up to when you play real people. I've done it a couple of times before, and I don't think you can tell their story without their approval.
Does the movie reflect the character you wanted to portray?
I think the essence comes through. Ultimately I felt beholden to Basquiat's character, so I hope so.
Does this attention that you're getting all of a sudden give you a taste of what Basquiat felt, and how is it affecting you?
On a lot of different levels, it's funny, I find myself experiencing a lot of the stuff that I experienced in the film. Basquiat was 22. I'm 30. Jean Michel was incredibly precocious. To say whether he would have been more grounded if his fame came along later is really irrelevant, because he hit when he had to hit. He was an alien!
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