Cameras Roll on Basquiat Biopic ‘Samo Lives’ in New York’s East Village

Summary • Crews were recently spotted setting up around Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, a neighborhood that was central to Basquiat’s rise • Basquiat lived and worked in several East Village apartments, leaving his SAMO© graffiti tag scrawled across walls and doors throughout the Bowery

Filming has finally kicked off for Samo Lives, the long-awaited biopic on Jean-Michel Basquiat, after years of quiet since the project’s announcement in 2022. Crews were recently spotted setting up around Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, a neighborhood that was central to Basquiat’s rise as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

Directed by Julius Onah—known for Luce (2019) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), the film stars Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the enigmatic pain