Kid Cudi will star as Jean-Michel Basquiat in Jean, a film he also wrote and will direct. The rapper and actor announced the project on social media with images of himself in character, per Variety, and said production is set to begin in 2027. Deadline also reported the news.
Cudi said he wrote the film himself after years of being asked about playing Basquiat. “For years people have asked me about playing Jean Michel Basquiat in a film,” he wrote. “But no project actually came to be.”
He shared images from a wardrobe test and a rough wig, noting the look isn’t final. Cudi called writing the film a “challenge” but a “welcomed one,” and said he did “a lot of research, books, talks with people that knew him.”
“This film will be a love letter to Jean, the 80s and NY city,” Cudi wrote. “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.”
What other films have been made about Basquiat and which new films are coming up?
Basquiat has been the subject of several films. Downtown 81, was shot in 1981 and stars Basquiat as himself. Julian Schnabel directed the 1996 biopic with Jeffrey Wright in the title role.
As for upcoming films, Kwame Kwei-Armah also directed The Collaboration, with Paul Bettany as Andy Warhol and Jeremy Pope as Basquiat, and there is Samo Lives stars Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Basquiat. Julius Onah directed that biopic. The film also stars Danny Ramirez, Dane DeHaan, Kathryn Newton, Lukas Gage, Chase Sui Wonders, Antony Starr and Wright, among others, joined the cast.
There have also been several documentaries Tamra Davis directed the documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, which premiered in 2010. Sara Driver directed the documentary Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat in 2017. There was also Jean-Michel, a Basquiat documentary that screened at Tribeca this year.
Cudi will make his feature directorial debut with Doe, which began production in Los Angeles earlier this year. He will also direct the horror thriller Wrong Number, in which he will star opposite Barbie Ferreira. Cudi said Jean will begin shooting in 2027. No release date, cast or distributor has been announced.
Photo: Brett Bushell / Provided by Live Nation for the Rebel Ragers Tour
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