Charles McGrath of the Times spent some time in Julian Schnabel’s studio the other day. Mickey Rourke and Plácido Domingo were there, waiting to be immortalized by the Schnab’s chubby hand, and what resulted was one of the sexiest passages the Gray Lady has ever printed:
Before he got down to painting, Mr. Schnabel, 56, wearing purple pajama pants and maroon slippers, took off his shirt and posed, barrel-chested, for some pictures with Mr. Rourke and Mr. Domingo. Using a black marker, Mr. Rourke inscribed over Mr. Schnabel’s right pectoral a Rourke-like tattoo that said “Got Milk.” Mr. Domingo looked straight ahead. They took up a lot of room, three towers of ego burning oxygen by the barrelful.
Oh, to be that oxygen. But then, after Rourke leaves, Domingo puts on the costume he is to be painted in (role-playing), and things get even hotter.
“The tights wear out the hair on my legs,” he said, wriggling into them, and after putting on the breastplate, he remarked: “Oh, it’s hotter than I remember. I thought it was just the stage lights.” When he was done, he struck a heroic pose for Mr. Schnabel and said: “One of my strongest roles, for which I am best known, is Otello. There is also Adorno, from ‘Simon Boccanegra.’ But this could be Otello.”
Mr. Schnabel said: “I’m just going to paint you as you.”
Schwoon! Leonardo DiCaprio couldn’t have said it better.
