After years of anticipation, the cameras are finally rolling on Samo Lives – a new cinematic retelling of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s short yet seismic life. Announced back in 2022, the project has now come alive in the streets that once shaped the artist himself. Crews were recently spotted setting up in Tompkins Square Park, a heartbeat of the East Village, where Basquiat’s rise unfolded amidst the chaos and creativity of 1980s New York.
Who is playing Jean-Michel Basquiat?
Directed by Julius Onah (Luce, The Cloverfield Paradox), the film stars Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the enigmatic painter. It marks the duo’s second collaboration since Luce (2019), a film that explored themes of identity, race and perception – threads that continue here in the life of Basquiat. Early set photos suggest that Andy Warhol, Basquiat’s confidant and collaborator, will also feature prominently in the narrative.
Is there a release date?
While a release date remains unconfirmed, filming in New York signals that Samo Lives is finally here. For now, what’s certain is that the film is as much about a man as it is about a city, about the art world that embraced and consumed him, and about the graffiti tag that started it all: SAMO Lives.
Downtown New York is the film's leading character
The East Village isn’t just a backdrop; it’s a living character in Samo Lives. From walls scrawled with Basquiat’s now-mythic SAMO© graffiti to late nights spent moving between clubs, galleries and friends’ studios, the downtown scene was his canvas as much as it was his home.
In 1983, Basquiat began working out of 57 Great Jones Street – a studio rented from Warhol himself. That same building is now home to Angelina Jolie’s Atelier Jolie, and just a short walk from the current filming location.
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How will Baquiat's legacy be shared?
Basquiat’s work redefined the Neo-Expressionist movement, his bold brushstrokes reflecting both his heritage – Haitian and Puerto Rican – and the dissonance of an America still resistant to artists of colour entering its elite art spaces. He became the youngest artist included in the Whitney Biennial at just 22, only to die five years later at 27.
Onah has spoken about his responsibility in retelling this story, sharing, “Jean-Michel Basquiat redefined the idea of who ascends to the highest altitudes of the fine art world. But the complexity and richness of his experience as an artist and child of the African diaspora has yet to be dramatised in the manner it deserves.”
Samo Lives joins a lineage of portrayals of the artist’s life, including Julian Schnabel’s 1996 Basquiat, Tamra Davis’s 2010 documentary The Radiant Child, and the cult-classic Downtown 81, in which Basquiat played himself. Yet Onah’s take promises to go deeper – less myth and more man.
Image: IMDb
