Basquiat is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed, co-written and co-composed by Julian Schnabel in his feature directorial debut. The film is based on the life of American postmodernist/neo expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. It is the first film about an American painter written and directed by another artist. Jeffrey Wright portrays Basquiat, a Brooklyn-born artist who used his graffiti roots as a foundation to create collage-style paintings on canvas. David Bowie plays Basquiat's friend and mentor, pop artist Andy Warhol. Additional cast members include Gary Oldman as a thinly disguised Schnabel, Michael Wincott as the poet and art critic Rene Ricard, Dennis Hopper as Bruno Bischofberger, Parker Posey as gallery owner Mary Boone, Christopher Walken as a devious, intrusive journalist, Willem Dafoe as a supportive artist who’s making ends meet as an electrician, and Claire Forlani, Courtney Love, Tatum O'Neal, and Benicio del Toro in supporting roles as "composite characters". Plot The film is a lightly fictionalized account of Basquiat's life. A struggling artist living in a cardboard box in Tompkins Square Park works his way up the rungs of the New York art world in the eighties, thanks in part to his association with Andy Warhol, the art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, poet and critic René Ricard, and fellow artist Albert Milo. Alongside the development of his artistic career, the film follows Basquiat's tumultuous relationship with Gina, a fellow aspiring artist he meets while she is working as a waitress at the diner he frequents with his friend Benny. Their romance is affected by Basquiat's affair with "Big Pink", a woman he picks up on the street, and his habitual abuse of heroin. Eventually, Basquiat finds himself isolated by his fame, the death of Warhol, and his drug use. The film ends with an intertitle stating that Basquiat died of a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27. Cast Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel Basquiat David Bowie as Andy Warhol Benicio del Toro as Benny Dalmau Dennis Hopper as Bruno Bischofberger Gary Oldman as Albert Milo Michael Wincott as René Ricard Claire Forlani as Gina Cardinale Parker Posey as Mary Boone Courtney Love as Big Pink Elina Löwensohn as Annina Nosei Paul Bartel as Henry Geldzahler Tatum O'Neal as Cynthia Kruger Christopher Walken as The Interviewer Willem Dafoe as the Electrician Sam Rockwell as Thug Linda Larkin as Fan Production Writing Julian Schnabel had given seed