Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1544028
60 outside is an opportunity. I see painting as an opportunity. On filmmaking versus painting. JS: My way of making films [like painting] has to do with spontaneity, and we don't rehearse. Everybody knows who they are, and then we see what happens. We jump in the hole, and if we can climb out at the end of the day, we had a good day. F i l m m a k i n g i s c o l l a b o r a t i v e , while time in the studio, even with assistants, is solitary. Would that be the main difference between filmmaking and painting? JS: When I'm making a painting, nobody's collaborating. People can help me to move something around. They could tell me what they think, but basically, I'm the only person that makes that decision. Or Louise might say something to me, and she might be right. And I say, "Yes, I get it. You can see something that I can't see." Maybe that's why I love her so much. Louise is an interior designer, but above all a collaborator. She wrote and edited two of the last films. She's done museum design including for exhibitions at the Clyfford Still Museum, the San Francisco Legion of Honor, and Musée d'Orsay; and also my Taschen book and museum catalogs. But painting is a solitary activity. At the same time, I don't mind if people are around while I'm doing it. I'm focused on whatever I'm doing, so it's irrelevant in a way. I'm usually listening to music — Tom Waits quite a bit. Nick Cave — he made a song for the last film that we made that's very beautiful. Also Benjamin Clementine, who did the music for In the Hand of Dante, and Paul Cantelon, who did the music for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Basquiat came out in 1996. Six more critically acclaimed films later, you've now been a filmmaker for 30 years. Your thoughts on the practice of filmmaking. JS: Here's the thing about working with other people in a film: They can do something that you can't do. You could have something that's written on a script, but they can do something that's more beautiful than anything that you've ever written. It comes to life, and they bring themselves into it, and they've got so much character, and casting is so important. In this last film, Oscar Isaac plays Nick Tosches and Dante Alighieri. So he's in the 21st century and in the 14th century. Al Pacino was in the movie. Martin Scorsese. Gerard Butler gives the performance of his life. Gal Gadot. Sabrina Impacciatore. Paolo Bonacelli. Franco Nero. Claudio Santamaria. Guido Caprino. Lorenzo Zurzolo. John Malkovich. Louise Cancelmi, who's a really great actor. They're Julian Schnabel and Javier Bardem at the filming of Before Night Falls, 1999 Martin Scorsese at the filming of In the Hand of Dante, 2023 Julian Schnabel in New York, 2024 Gerard Butler at the filming of In the Hand of Dante, 2023 ALEX MAJOLI ALEX MAJOLI JULIAN SCHNABEL ARCHIVE BEN ADAMS