Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Amy Madigan, Jennifer Connelly, Jeffrey Tambor. Julian Schnabel's Basquiat was the first biopic about a 20th Century American artist, but Jean-Michel Basquiat seemed an unlikely choice for a subject. Jackson Pollock is generally regarded as the most important American artist of the last century, and his story has been waiting to hit the screen since his untimely death in 1956. Ed Harris finally took it upon himself to produce, direct, and star in this long-awaited film.
Pollock begins during World War II, when Pollock was still a struggling painter in New York.
They quickly become lovers, and she helps him get into more prestigious circles. From there, Pollock gained fame as a major abstract artist, and eventually moved out to East Hampton. In his secluded studio on the farm, he developed his revolutionary drip technique and became, for a moment, the biggest artist in the world. Unfortunately, this success did little to curb his self-destruction. Pollock's life is a perfect fit for a film, and could have been made into a trashy Movie of the Week, but Harris knew that it deserved better.