Julian Schnabel, director of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, talks to the Guardian's Francine Stock. And talks. And talks. And talks.
Schnabel has always had a reputation as...well, a polite person would say "somewhat difficult". An impolite person would say "a complete asshole". Since making the transition from visual artist to filmmaker -- a transition which he still won't discuss in anything but the thorniest terms -- he certainly hasn't lost his ability to be really contentious, as this interview (conducted at the British Film Institute Southbank) makes clear. He argues with Stock over the proper attribution of a Pablo Picasso quote, consults an eleven-year-old boy on the possiblity of a film adaptation of Kerouac's On the Road, asks "Whoever heard of the Coen Brothers?", and generally behaves like the tyro he used to be when he was just a New York scenester.
On the other hand, he does grace us with a fun story about being heckled by a drunken Sean Young, so at least there's that.
