One of the greatest artists of the 20th century is coming to the big screen again from one of the 21st century’s true hyphenates.
Kid Cudi dropped on his IG today that he will write, direct and star in a film about the life of the late, great Jean-Michel Basquiat.
“For years people have asked me about playing Jean Michel Basquiat in a film,” the Man on the Moon performer posted Wednesday morning. “But no project actually came to be. This year, I finally said fuck it, ima write it myself.”
“This film will be a love letter to Jean, the 80s and NY city,” Cudi added of the acclaimed (and now best selling) Basquiat, who died at the age of 27 in 1988. “Jean has inspired me all through out my career, and it will be the biggest honor to tell his story in a way we haven’t seen before.”
Now, with the still not released The Collaboration from director Kwame Kwei-Armah notwithstanding, it’s not like we haven’t seen a plethora of Basquiat documentaries and features over the decades since the artist passed.
At the same time, with big support from the likes of Jay Z and other deep pocket collectors, we’ve also seen Basquiat’s work rocket to the top of the sales charts. Not that Basquiat wasn’t successful with dealers and patrons during his lifetime, but that was nothing compared to what his paintings and other work rake in nowadays. In 2017, Basquiat’s Untitled from 1982 was sold for a then record breaking $110.5 million
More recently Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollack pieces have sold for more, but Basquiat remains a key and pricey American artist for collectors and museums.
In that context, not only did Grammy winner and Doe director Cudi (AKA Scott Mescudi) unveil the “filming 2027” Jean, but also revealed some starling wardrobe takes of himself as Basquiat. No disrespect to Jeffrey Wright’s breakout performance as JMB in 1996’s Basquiat from Julian Schnabel, but Cudi clearly captures the essence of the artist and more — as the pics he posted show.
Already having announced a “horror/thriller” sophomore directorial feature back in August, the Brillstein Entertinment Partners repped Cudi faced backlash last month after appearing on-stage in Chicago with old pal Kanye West. In response, Cudi defended himself and to some degree West, who among repeated antisemitic statements and other things released a pro-Hitler song last year. “He was dealing w mental health struggles for years and now he’s good,” Cudi posted in the early hours of September 4. “Everyone deserves some grace when they family. I was the hardest on him out of anybody. I held him accountable. He apologized and it was sincere.”
On the flip side, Cudi was quick to cut M.I.A. loose in May from his tour in support of his Free album. At the Dallas stop of the tour, the no stranger to controversy ‘Paper Planes’ singer complained about being “canceled for being a brown Republican voter,” and then added, “I can’t do ‘illegal,’ though some of you could be in the audience.” Cudi said in the aftermath: “I didn’t want anything offensive at my shows,” and M.I.A was M.I.A.
Back on the big screen, we now know Cudi’s second film as a director is entitled Wrong Number. In production in L.A., the Cudi penned project co-stars Mile End Kicks alum Barbie Ferreira – as Deadline’s Matt Grober exclusively reported last month.
As for Jean — take a look at Cudie’s very visual post from today here: