Quite possibly the most recognized and influential American artist of the 20th century, Andy Warhol remains something of an enigma. Always reticent with the media, Warhol nonetheless clamored for the spotlight and always made sure he was surrounded by the rich and famous. Here, Chuck Workman tries to get inside the life of Mr. Warhol by bringing together interviews with the artist himself, innumerable celebrities, Warhol's family, and some Campbell's Soup executives. However, true to Warhol's image and his art, Workman ends up with an incredibly diverse portrait of both Warhol's art and his celebrity, providing a rare glimpse at what Warhol's Factory was like in the sixties and seventies.

The inventor of Pop Art and a pop cultural hero, Andy Warhol was both America's most celebrated and most controversial artist. This documentary focuses on Warhol's work and star-studded world in which he moved. Using a glittering collage of media images, commentary from the vast assortment of celebrities and scene-makers who knew Warhol (Lou Reed, Dennis Hopper, Roy Lichtenstien, Ultra Violet and Fran Lebowitz, to name a very few), and interviews with the enigmatic artist himself, Chuck Workman fashions a portrait of a career in which surfaces were everything and fame was an end in itself.

Color by CFI.

Additional credits: Franklyn M. Gottbetter, associate line producer; Jessica Berman Bogdan, director of research

Other featured celebrities and art world personalities include Holly Woodlawn, Gerard Malanga, Fran Lebowitz, Ultra Violet, Henry Geldzahler, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Taylor Mead and Bob Colacello.

"Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol" was shown at the 1990 Toronto Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and the Chicago Film Festival, where it won the Silver Plaque for documentary excellence.

Chuck Workman is president of Calliope Films, Inc., a video and film production company based in a Beverly Hills. He is one of the film industry's leading creators of film promos and trailers. Workman has written four stage plays, "The Man Who Wore White Shoes," "Diplomacy," "Bruno's Ghost" and "Bloomers," all of which have been produced in the Los Angeles area.

Excerpt: "Just look at the surface...and there I am. There's nothing behind it." -- Andy Warhol

"I'm a commercial person. I've got a lot of mouths to feed. Gotta bring home the bacon." -- Andy Warhol

"I think his turn-on was his connection to the sexual charisma of the stars." -- Shelly Winters on Andy Warhol

"He was a pointer. He did what Marcel Duchamp said an artist should do. He pointed at things, and then we could see them." -- Dennis Hopper on Andy Warhol

DVD Features:

Region 0
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: Chuck Workman - Director
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
DVD-ROM Features:
Weblinks

Andy Warhol: American Artist/Filmmaker
Dennis Hopper: American actor/director
 Viva: 
David Hockney: 20th-century artist
Liza Minnelli: American Actress, CABARET (1972)
Taylor Mead: 
Shelley Winters: Oscar winning actress, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (1959)
Tom Wolfe: American Author, THE RIGHT STUFF

Chuck Workman: Director/Screenwriter

"...Witty and enterprising....Efforts to provide a context for Warhol's life and legend are deftly effective..."
"...SUPERSTAR is acute at pinpointing Warhol's contributions to art and in evoking his era and his impact upon it..."