Jean-Michel Basquiat: A little gold frame. Then the “D” train.
Anne Rice: That’s in the public domain, it’s an old story.
Basquiat: (Laughs) Pretty much.
Rice: Oh yeah, very much so.
Basquiat: I don’t know. I don’t think there’s anything under that gold paint.
•••
Rice: You know, there had to be a seductive side to the power, of feeling yourself gain strength, and your muscles get stronger and your limbs get longer and your whole body becomes invulnerable with a soft wonderful coat of hair.
Basquiat: I guess so. It was true at the time. And it gets really dark in the woods, you don’t know where you are.
Rice: I want to do that.
Basquiat: Like hunting, or something.
Rice: Dogs do, wolves do. I could do that in a sequel.
•••
Basquiat: Now I get all these telegrams. You never know what it could be. “You’re drafted.” “I have $2,000 for you.”
Rice: You know, these talks can go on for years.
Basquiat: Every once in a while, yeah. (Pauses) Usually I have to check up on these dealers and make sure they’re showing the right work.
Rice: They’re comatose, or clinically dead on an operating table, or in a morgue, and yet they’re traveling out of body and they see things that they can report later.
Basquiat: It’s more of a name-dropping thing.