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Diving Bell and the Butterfly director Julian Schnabel tends to split cultural observers the way Hillary splits voters: half adore their ballsy confidence and think they're really making a difference in their respective fields, while the other half kind of just wants to drive a knife into their paunchy tummies. The latter impulse almost sent a London Telegraph reporter to jail after spending time with the hairy-chested artiste for an interview out today. It seems Schnabel's suggestion that the journalist, Mick Brown, was not famous enough to name-drop, coupled with Schnabel's tendency to say "'Cigarette, por favor' to no one in particular" during their meetings was enough to send Brown over the edge...

Despite our adoration of Diving Bell, plus our general appreciation of loony boys from Brooklyn who build pink townhouses in the middle of Manhattan, we can't really blame Brown after reading through the article. Speaking of his reviews for the Oscar-nominated Bell, Schnabel says, "'Have you read them?' making no attempt to hide his glee. 'If my mother wrote them they couldn't be nicer.'" And after being reminded of his famous declaration that he's "as close to Picasso as you are going to get in this fucking life," he goes on to beat a dead horse hard:

"No, no - I think this is important. If you don't have the work, you don't fucking play...I don't know if people really know too much about painting, and that's not to be condescending. It's so obscured by personalities, the market and people's fascination with money. Making art is an act of peace. And people forget that."


Who knew the first steps towards peace were insulting the press, cussin' left and right, and (don't forget!) pink apartment condos for Bono?
JULIAN SCHNABEL: LARGING IT [DAILY TELEGRAPH]