Samo Lives, the Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic produced and financed by Fifth Season and Macro Film Studios, which stars Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the iconic creator, has wrapped production with 14 additions to the cast. They are Danny Ramirez (best Gun: Maverick), BAFTA nominee Dane DeHaan (Oppenheimer), Kathryn Newton (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong), Lukas Gage (The White Lotus), Chase Sui Wonders (The Studio), Lucy Fry (Godfather of Harlem), Yolonda Ross (The Chi), Priah Ferguson (Stranger Things), Phillip Johnson Richardson (Sharper), Michael Angelo Covino (The Climb), Samiya Allen-Graham (Lodged), Antony Starr (The Boys), and Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction).
Character details are under wraps. Wright comes to the project after portraying Basquiat himself in his first leading film role, in Julian Schnabel’s 1996 drama Basquiat.
Directed by Julius Onah, the filmmaker behind Luce and Captain America: Brave New World, Samo Lives tells the story of Basquiat’s rise in the New York City art scene as he reckons with his past and future — all with the vibrancy and invention found in his groundbreaking neo-expressionistic style.
Onah penned the script with his Captain America collaborator Peter Glanz. Onah also produced alongside John Baker, Rob Feng, and Eric Ro, as well as Macro Film Studios’ James Lopez and Charles D. King. Executive producers are Harrison Jr., Charles Miller, and Ossetra Films’ Sterling Brim and DC Wade.
Ramirez is represented by CAA, Anonymous Content, Brillstein, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; DeHaan by Gersh, Mgmt Entertainment, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Newton by WME, Entertainment 360, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Kretschmann by Independent creator Group and Myman Greenspan Fox; Gage by WME, Luber Roklin, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Sui Wonders by UTA and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Fry by CAA, Anonymous, and Loeb & Loeb; Ross by Daniel Rozenberg, Principal Entertainment LA, and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz; Ferguson by Gersh, Monica Villarreal, and Jackoway Austen; Johnson by Artists and Representatives and Beth Rosner Management; Covino by WME, First Gen Management, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Allen-Graham by Paradigm and Reel Talent Management; Starr by UTA and Impression; and Wright by CAA, Arcieri & Associates, and Jackoway Austen.
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