Stuff

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Okay.
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Sound check, please.
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One, two.
One, two.
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Okay.
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One, two.
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- Comfortable?
- Yep.
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So, um, I guess I'll start off
by asking you about the film.
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What is the film?
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Well, the film is the story
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of what happened when this guy
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tried to make
a documentary about me,
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but he was actually a lot more
interesting than I am,
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so now the film
is kind of about him.
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I mean, it's not
Gone with the Wind,
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but there's probably a moral
in there somewhere.
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So who is this guy?
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"This guy" was Thierry Guetta,
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a Frenchman who had been living
in Los Angeles
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since emigrating
to the United States
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in the early 1980s.
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A regular family man,
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Thierry owned
a vintage clothing store
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in the city's most bohemian
shopping district,
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and he made a good living
selling his wares
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to L.A.'s more fashion-conscious
citizens.
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At that time,
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I used to buy old Adidas
and old things
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and, you know, things
you couldn't find here:
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shoes, bags.
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And I had a warehouse
with big bales of these clothes,
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and we used to buy these
for $50.
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I used to take things that,
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when the sewing was different,
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I call it designer,
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and I'd put the price
that is $400.
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So from $50,
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sometimes I could make $5,000.
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But there was
one very unusual thing
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about Thierry.
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He never went anywhere
without a video camera.
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I don't know
how the video camera
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came into my hand,
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but I know the moment
it came inside my hand,
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I couldn't let it down,
ever.
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It was like more than any drugs
to anybody.
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It was obsession.
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When I picked up the camera,
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I couldn't do anything
without capturing it.
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I'd keep filming,
keep filming, keep filming.
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I was filming and filming myself
filming me.
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It didn't stop.
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It just didn't stop.
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Ooh...
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In my own house,
when the kids grow up,
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I had cameras set up everywhere.
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I was completely maxed
with camera.
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Even taking pictures,
he would do it like...
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you know, like, he was using
even the picture camera
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like he would use
the video camera.
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He was pretty much obsessed.
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He filmed constantly...
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tapes and tapes and tapes.
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Aaaagh!
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As time passed,
those who knew Thierry
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stopped even noticing
his ever-present camera,
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while everyone else soon learned
how determined he could be.
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Can I take one picture
before I go?
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You know what?
We're working right now.
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One picture, yeah.
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All right, go ahead.
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- No, no, no.
- Thanks.
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Thanks.
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C'est Shaq.
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Hey, how you doing?
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What you doin', bud?
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Ça va?
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Say hello to the French people.
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Hello, French people.
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That's enough.
Stop recording.
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That's good.
That's good.
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When you gonna film
someone else?
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Yeah, man, I do.
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I do.
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Why don't you go
and do it now?
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Because it's not every day
that I see you.
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Thud!
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Thierry seemed
happy enough selling clothes
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and pointing his camera
at anything that moved
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until in 1999,
on a family holiday to France,
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a chance discovery
sent Thierry's life
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in a dramatic new direction.
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My cousin, at that time,
he was an artistic...
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you know, he was putting
mosaics together
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and trying to do the game
of Space Invaders,
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re-creating the character,
kind of way.
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So I film him.
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So this is what you're doing?
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I need to put
some white ones here...
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Yeah, yeah, that'll be crazy.
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It was kind of fun,
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because he was, like,
doing some tile, very small,
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and putting it on top
of couple building,
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and I thought
it was really nice,
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to put some stuff
that you love,
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something that you want
to express yourself,
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and put it outside
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and people can see it.
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It's not straight! Up a bit.
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A bit more
on the other side now.
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There you go. That's good.
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Thierry's cousin
was Space Invader,
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a major player
in an explosive new movement
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that would become known
as street art.
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This hybrid form of graffiti
was driven by a new generation
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using stickers, stencils,
posters, and sculptures
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to make their mark
by any means necessary.
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With the arrival
of the internet,
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these once-temporary works
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could be shared by an audience
of millions.
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Street art was poised
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to become the biggest
countercultural movement
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since punk,
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and Thierry had landed
right in the middle of it.
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When I was with Thierry,
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Thierry was with his camera,
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and he was filming me
all the time,
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but when people were asking me
what this guy's doing,
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I was saying, "It's okay;
it's my cousin."
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And generally,
people were thinking,
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"This guy is cool."
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Like, "Let him film."
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- Is this your job or what?
- It's my passion.
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So what do you do
for a living?
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This and that.
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But right now,
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I'm having a break.
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Through my cousin,
I met André.
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André has this character
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that is a smiling face
that's blinking an eye
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and, you know, with,
like, long legs
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and walking everywhere,
you know,
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like kind of
a cartoon character.
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When I met Zeus,
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he was, like, painting, like,
shadows on the streets
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of different things.
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I liked to capture those people
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because I thought it was nice,
what they were doing,
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and they really believe it.
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You know, they really loved it.
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I started to really see, like,
a gallery outside.
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Don't walk all over the paint.
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I'm trying not to.
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I just loved it, you know,
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filming at night
and street,
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because it was, like,
a mix of fears
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and getting something
that nobody sees,
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and somewhere you
and... illegal,
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and you can get caught,
you know?
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So it was, like, that feeling
that it was, like, a danger,
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and I like that.
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You know, I like the danger.
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You know, it made me feel good.
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Thierry had
accidentally found a focus.
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The man who would film anything
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had stumbled into
an intriguing underground world,
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and now that he had found it,
he wasn't about to let it go.
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I guess Thierry
was in the right place
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at the right time,
really.
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I mean, the thing is
that most all art
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is built to last, like,
hundreds of years.
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It's cast in bronze,
or it's oil on canvas,
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but street art
has a short lifespan,
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so it needed documenting.
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You know, we all needed someone
who knew how to use a camera.
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Fuck.
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A few months later,
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Invader visited Los Angeles
for the first time,
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giving Thierry the chance
to pursue his new passion
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on home turf.
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Quickly, quickly, it's the cops!
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You can't do that here.
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It's to take pictures.
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Right.
Not here.
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Not that, no.
That's graffiti.
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That's not graffiti.
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No, no, but that's not.
That's not graffiti.
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Then remove it,
because you guys got to go.
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That's an art.
That's an art.
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You guys need to go.
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But this is,
like, Space Invader.
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You know Space Invader?
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I know Space Invader.
Not here, no.
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You don't know Space Invader?
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Go!
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I was filming Space Invader,
but I wanted more.
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You know?
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So I mean, it's like,
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I could get him all the time,
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so I wanted somebody
that I couldn't get.
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Thierry's opportunity
to meet someone
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who could keep him
in steady thrills
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came a few days later
when Invader arranged to meet up
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with another
West Coast street artist.
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His name was Shepard Fairey.
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One day,
Shepard would be famous
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for transforming the face
of an unknown senator
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into a universally
recognized icon.
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But even back in 2000,
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Shepard was the world's
most prolific street artist.
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Shepard's experiment
with the power of repetition
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went back to 1989
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and an image based
on cult '70s wrestler
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Andre the Giant.
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Combining Andre's face
with a command to obey,
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Shepard had already clocked up
over a million hits
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around the world.
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And although
he didn't know it yet,
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his world was about
to collide head-on
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with Thierry's.
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Shepard Fairey
was at Kinko's on Vine,
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and Space Invader had something,
a trouble with something,
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and he couldn't make it
that moment.
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But me, I wanted
to meet the guy,
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so what I did,
I went and meet him.
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- Invader.
- No, Thierry.
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I didn't ask him;
I just filmed.
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That was my thing.
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I didn't ask him anything.
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When I came,
I came with a camera,
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and I start filming.
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So why did you do him?
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You don't know?
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You knew the guy.
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He's funny-looking.
No.
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You didn't know him?
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- No, I didn't know him.
- Do you think he's dead, or...
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He's dead, yeah.
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Yeah?
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00:15:06,848 --> 00:15:09,099
So you have a partner works
with you?
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Yeah.
This is Amanda.
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Amanda, how are you doing?
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- Hi. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too.
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So how long
you been doing this?
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10 1/2 years.
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Yeah?
That's a lot of paper.
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Yeah.
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What do you do?
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I film.
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That night when
Shepard did meet Space Invader,
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he took him on a tour
of the city.
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Thierry was there
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filming everything
that Space Invader was doing
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and then, of course,
once I was with Space Invader,
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everything I was doing.
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00:15:50,723 --> 00:15:51,974
You should probably
put an invader
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up on Hollywood Boulevard.
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What do you think, Thierry?
Yeah.
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And when Invader
returned to France,
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Thierry simply carried on,
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00:16:01,275 --> 00:16:02,650
tagging along
at Shepard's side
261
00:16:02,776 --> 00:16:06,070
whenever the artist
went out in the streets.
262
00:16:06,196 --> 00:16:09,073
- 2:00... if he's gonna be out
past 2:00,
263
00:16:09,199 --> 00:16:10,366
he needs to call at 2:00.
264
00:16:10,492 --> 00:16:12,076
Okay.
I'll make him.
265
00:16:12,202 --> 00:16:14,704
Otherwise, he gets beat,
and he sleeps on the couch.
266
00:16:14,830 --> 00:16:18,707
Amanda always thought
that he was weird,
267
00:16:18,833 --> 00:16:20,542
but I said it's great
268
00:16:20,668 --> 00:16:23,587
that we're getting
a lot of this stuff on tape.
269
00:16:23,713 --> 00:16:29,092
And for me to have someone there
as a lookout was always good.
270
00:16:29,218 --> 00:16:30,886
Keep your eye out for the cops.
271
00:16:31,012 --> 00:16:34,222
I finally did train him
to not turn the light on
272
00:16:34,348 --> 00:16:36,099
while I was on a billboard
or a rooftop,
273
00:16:36,225 --> 00:16:37,392
where he was gonna
blow my cover.
274
00:16:37,518 --> 00:16:38,685
No, no, no, don't use that.
275
00:16:38,811 --> 00:16:40,519
Yeah.
276
00:16:40,645 --> 00:16:43,522
After ten months
of Thierry's constant presence,
277
00:16:43,648 --> 00:16:45,524
the question inevitably arose:
278
00:16:45,650 --> 00:16:48,986
What exactly
was Thierry filming for?
279
00:16:49,112 --> 00:16:50,279
It's cool, though, right?
280
00:16:50,405 --> 00:16:51,906
And that was the moment
281
00:16:52,032 --> 00:16:54,116
Thierry came up with a big idea
282
00:16:54,242 --> 00:16:56,035
that would dictate
the path of his life
283
00:16:56,161 --> 00:16:57,828
for the next eight years.
284
00:16:57,954 --> 00:16:59,622
In the beginning,
you're, like, thinking,
285
00:16:59,748 --> 00:17:01,999
like, "The guy's gonna film me
one time, two times,
286
00:17:02,124 --> 00:17:05,043
three times, five times,
ten times, twelve times,"
287
00:17:05,169 --> 00:17:07,086
but after a while,
he's like,
288
00:17:07,212 --> 00:17:08,880
"What you gonna do?"
289
00:17:09,006 --> 00:17:13,217
Because usually people film
a day, two days, three days,
290
00:17:13,344 --> 00:17:15,053
and they make something
out of it.
291
00:17:15,179 --> 00:17:16,554
But I kept filming,
292
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:18,431
so he's like,
"What you gonna do?"
293
00:17:18,557 --> 00:17:21,434
And I said, "I'm gonna make
a street art documentary,"
294
00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:22,727
you know?
295
00:17:22,853 --> 00:17:26,063
Take two.
296
00:17:39,077 --> 00:17:42,412
In his new role
as documentary filmmaker,
297
00:17:42,538 --> 00:17:48,417
Thierry now started traveling
the world with Shepard,
298
00:17:48,543 --> 00:17:50,670
recording every detail
of the artist's life.
299
00:17:50,796 --> 00:17:53,172
I knew that
couldn't be far away.
300
00:17:56,009 --> 00:17:59,720
Even though
the Andre the Giant sticker
301
00:17:59,846 --> 00:18:01,013
was just an inside joke
302
00:18:01,139 --> 00:18:02,765
and I was just having fun,
303
00:18:02,891 --> 00:18:07,186
I liked the idea of the more
stickers that are out there,
304
00:18:07,312 --> 00:18:08,478
the more important it seems;
305
00:18:08,604 --> 00:18:09,938
the more important it seems,
306
00:18:10,064 --> 00:18:12,065
the more people
want to know what it is,
307
00:18:12,191 --> 00:18:14,109
the more they ask each other,
308
00:18:14,235 --> 00:18:17,654
and it gains real power
from perceived power.
309
00:18:17,780 --> 00:18:19,698
Can I talk to you
for a second?
310
00:18:19,824 --> 00:18:21,491
Police officer.
I'm not gonna arrest you.
311
00:18:21,617 --> 00:18:22,784
I'm not gonna arrest you.
312
00:18:22,910 --> 00:18:24,202
I just want
to talk to you, dude.
313
00:18:26,038 --> 00:18:27,205
Don't film from that side.
314
00:18:27,331 --> 00:18:28,498
Film from this side over here.
315
00:18:28,624 --> 00:18:30,708
You understand why, right?
316
00:18:30,834 --> 00:18:33,794
Because you're gonna
attract attention.
317
00:18:42,429 --> 00:18:44,638
Oop! Whoa!
318
00:18:49,769 --> 00:18:54,063
It was like a big adventure
every night.
319
00:18:54,189 --> 00:18:55,982
We were going
on top of buildings
320
00:18:56,108 --> 00:18:58,234
and going on top of something
321
00:18:58,360 --> 00:18:59,986
that was not just illegal;
322
00:19:00,112 --> 00:19:01,404
it was dangerous.
323
00:19:01,530 --> 00:19:03,823
But I would do it
324
00:19:03,949 --> 00:19:06,909
because I wanted to show
that I could do it.
325
00:19:09,663 --> 00:19:10,913
You know, it was not like,
326
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:12,915
I'm downstairs
327
00:19:13,042 --> 00:19:15,083
and you are upstairs
doing your thing
328
00:19:15,209 --> 00:19:16,376
and I'm filming.
329
00:19:16,502 --> 00:19:17,669
No.
330
00:19:17,795 --> 00:19:19,421
I would go upstairs,
331
00:19:19,547 --> 00:19:25,010
and I would go even up, up more
to have the shot that is great.
332
00:19:37,105 --> 00:19:39,106
He just wanted to go
whenever I was going,
333
00:19:39,232 --> 00:19:40,900
and he was always...
334
00:19:41,026 --> 00:19:43,778
he was always very diligent
about climbing,
335
00:19:43,904 --> 00:19:46,363
about helping move the buckets,
the ladder.
336
00:19:46,490 --> 00:19:48,032
He was not only a filmer,
337
00:19:48,158 --> 00:19:50,534
but in ways,
he was an accomplice,
338
00:19:50,660 --> 00:19:54,205
and I don't know whether
it's just that he's passionate
339
00:19:54,331 --> 00:19:55,706
or whether
it's that he's passionate
340
00:19:55,832 --> 00:19:58,041
and he's kinda crazy.
341
00:19:58,167 --> 00:20:00,335
But I respect passion.
342
00:20:10,888 --> 00:20:13,223
But it wasn't just Shepard
343
00:20:13,349 --> 00:20:14,933
who caught Thierry's eye.
344
00:20:15,059 --> 00:20:17,227
As he ventured further afield,
345
00:20:17,353 --> 00:20:21,188
Thierry was constantly meeting
street artists.
346
00:20:21,314 --> 00:20:22,606
And in my head,
347
00:20:22,732 --> 00:20:24,316
I wanted to make a movie
about street art,
348
00:20:24,442 --> 00:20:27,736
so I wanted to get
as much people as possible.
349
00:20:27,862 --> 00:20:32,366
Even people who tell me,
"No, I don't want to be filmed,"
350
00:20:32,492 --> 00:20:36,662
I find a way
of making the no as a yes.
351
00:20:36,788 --> 00:20:37,996
Cool.
352
00:20:38,123 --> 00:20:40,290
I love the design of it.
353
00:20:40,416 --> 00:20:44,502
So you draw.
You know how to draw?
354
00:20:44,628 --> 00:20:45,837
It's a painting.
355
00:20:45,963 --> 00:20:47,255
Yeah.
356
00:20:47,381 --> 00:20:49,799
And I start to know one,
357
00:20:49,925 --> 00:20:53,761
and one make me
meet another one.
358
00:20:53,887 --> 00:20:56,764
Very important
when you put the poster
359
00:20:56,890 --> 00:20:59,934
to see where
you're gonna put it.
360
00:21:00,060 --> 00:21:03,687
Usually, I just...
361
00:21:03,813 --> 00:21:06,898
I choose a wall
'cause I like it,
362
00:21:07,024 --> 00:21:09,025
I like what it feels like,
you know?
363
00:21:09,152 --> 00:21:10,861
The texture.
364
00:21:10,987 --> 00:21:14,281
When I go with the artist,
I'm just living them life.
365
00:21:14,407 --> 00:21:15,866
You know?
366
00:21:15,992 --> 00:21:18,869
I'm a ghost
when I'm with them.
367
00:21:18,995 --> 00:21:21,413
I'm kind of a ghost.
368
00:21:21,539 --> 00:21:23,456
Don't you wish to be taller
sometimes?
369
00:21:23,583 --> 00:21:25,125
Shut the fuck up.
370
00:21:25,251 --> 00:21:27,084
So what name you are using?
371
00:21:27,210 --> 00:21:28,460
Borf.
372
00:21:28,587 --> 00:21:31,672
It was the name
of my best friend
373
00:21:31,798 --> 00:21:33,799
who killed himself
when we were 16...
374
00:21:35,886 --> 00:21:38,304
And I just do it to...
I don't know...
375
00:21:38,430 --> 00:21:40,431
commemorate his life.
376
00:21:40,557 --> 00:21:42,308
You gonna hit that?
377
00:21:42,434 --> 00:21:44,310
We're gonna do both.
378
00:21:44,436 --> 00:21:46,103
- Are you gonna do both?
- Yeah.
379
00:21:46,229 --> 00:21:48,605
But, like, I think it'd be cool
if you came up with us.
380
00:22:05,748 --> 00:22:07,123
Excuse me, sir?
381
00:22:07,249 --> 00:22:08,958
Can I have a quick word
with you, sir, please?
382
00:22:09,084 --> 00:22:10,500
Excuse me?
383
00:22:10,627 --> 00:22:12,419
Could I just have a quick word
with you, please?
384
00:22:12,545 --> 00:22:14,838
If I can ask you to stop
any recording that you're doing.
385
00:22:14,964 --> 00:22:16,715
- It's not recording.
- That's fine.
386
00:22:16,841 --> 00:22:18,091
- Do you understand English?
- Yes.
387
00:22:18,218 --> 00:22:20,135
That's fine, sir.
388
00:22:20,261 --> 00:22:22,971
I'm sure you can appreciate
graffiti's a criminal offense.
389
00:22:23,097 --> 00:22:24,640
Right?
390
00:22:24,766 --> 00:22:26,725
Thierry's documentary
was shaping up to be
391
00:22:26,851 --> 00:22:31,312
the authentic inside story
of the birth of a movement
392
00:22:31,438 --> 00:22:36,484
starring the biggest figures
in the street art world...
393
00:22:36,610 --> 00:22:38,486
with one exception.
394
00:22:38,612 --> 00:22:40,363
Now Tate Britain
in Pimlico
395
00:22:40,489 --> 00:22:43,366
refused to discuss
security arrangements today
396
00:22:43,492 --> 00:22:46,118
after a graffiti artist
known as Banksy
397
00:22:46,245 --> 00:22:48,287
was able to leave
one of his own paintings
398
00:22:48,413 --> 00:22:50,373
in the gallery's
landscape room.
399
00:22:52,668 --> 00:22:55,543
I hear about this Banksy.
400
00:22:55,670 --> 00:22:57,087
"Who's Banksy?
Banksy?
401
00:22:57,213 --> 00:22:58,505
Banksy this."
402
00:22:58,631 --> 00:23:00,882
And I said,
"I really like that guy."
403
00:23:01,008 --> 00:23:02,175
You know?
404
00:23:02,301 --> 00:23:03,677
And it's like,
405
00:23:03,803 --> 00:23:06,888
"I want... I want... I want
to interview this guy."
406
00:23:21,569 --> 00:23:24,363
Thierry
wasn't the only one intrigued.
407
00:23:24,489 --> 00:23:27,574
By now, word about
this mystery provocateur
408
00:23:27,701 --> 00:23:29,868
and his increasingly
ambitious adventures
409
00:23:29,995 --> 00:23:34,873
was radiating far beyond
the world of street art.
410
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,294
Banksy had started out
as a provincial graffiti artist,
411
00:23:39,420 --> 00:23:44,048
but before long, his stencils
were appearing all over Britain.
412
00:23:46,719 --> 00:23:49,262
Through a series
of DIY art shows,
413
00:23:49,388 --> 00:23:54,559
Banksy was now taking vandalism
in an entirely new direction.
414
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,396
So I ask Space Invader.
415
00:23:58,522 --> 00:23:59,896
I ask everybody that I knew.
416
00:24:00,023 --> 00:24:01,606
"How can I get this guy?"
417
00:24:01,733 --> 00:24:03,608
They said, "It's impossible.
418
00:24:03,735 --> 00:24:05,110
It's impossible."
419
00:24:05,236 --> 00:24:07,988
But my focus in my head,
it was like,
420
00:24:08,114 --> 00:24:11,199
"How am I gonna make it?
How am I gonna make it?
421
00:24:11,326 --> 00:24:13,744
It's impossible,
but how am I gonna make it?"
422
00:24:13,870 --> 00:24:15,912
While Thierry schemes
to find a way
423
00:24:16,039 --> 00:24:18,123
to the one missing star
of his film,
424
00:24:18,249 --> 00:24:19,958
his other subjects carried on,
425
00:24:20,084 --> 00:24:22,877
letting Thierry capture
every moment
426
00:24:23,003 --> 00:24:24,962
of their creative process.
427
00:24:25,088 --> 00:24:27,965
What none of them suspected
428
00:24:28,091 --> 00:24:30,801
was that Thierry's
street art documentary
429
00:24:30,927 --> 00:24:34,680
didn't actually exist.
430
00:24:46,484 --> 00:24:50,278
All the tape that I film,
even if it was good,
431
00:24:50,404 --> 00:24:54,657
it was going nowhere.
432
00:24:54,784 --> 00:24:57,160
It was going
in a box somewhere.
433
00:24:57,286 --> 00:24:59,120
Sometime I don't
even write anything.
434
00:24:59,246 --> 00:25:00,413
Sometime I write the year.
435
00:25:00,539 --> 00:25:04,833
Sometime I write nothing.
436
00:25:04,959 --> 00:25:06,668
But I would never watch it.
437
00:25:06,795 --> 00:25:10,756
Never, never, never.
438
00:25:10,882 --> 00:25:12,341
When it was filmed,
439
00:25:12,467 --> 00:25:15,511
for me, it was done.
440
00:25:15,637 --> 00:25:18,597
It wasn't important,
how it was made.
441
00:25:18,723 --> 00:25:21,141
It was important what it was.
442
00:25:21,267 --> 00:25:26,355
It was the capturation.
443
00:25:26,481 --> 00:25:28,356
Thierry's
extraordinary habit
444
00:25:28,482 --> 00:25:29,857
of filming everything
445
00:25:29,983 --> 00:25:32,944
and locking the unwatched tapes
away in boxes
446
00:25:33,070 --> 00:25:36,572
had its roots
in his childhood in France.
447
00:25:41,203 --> 00:25:44,580
I lost my mother
when I was 11 years old,
448
00:25:44,706 --> 00:25:48,042
and the day that I find out
about my mother,
449
00:25:48,168 --> 00:25:49,334
I was at school.
450
00:25:49,460 --> 00:25:51,711
I remember I was
in the playground,
451
00:25:51,838 --> 00:25:53,713
and somebody come up,
452
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,133
and he says,
"You're laughing?
453
00:25:56,259 --> 00:25:58,051
You're laughing?
You're laughing?"
454
00:25:58,177 --> 00:25:59,594
Like, behind the gate.
455
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:01,930
"Your mother is dead."
Like this.
456
00:26:02,056 --> 00:26:05,142
And after, I was like...
457
00:26:05,268 --> 00:26:08,895
I didn't know, in reality,
and after I went back to class,
458
00:26:09,021 --> 00:26:11,814
and I was crying,
and I didn't know.
459
00:26:11,940 --> 00:26:14,233
And from that things,
460
00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:16,735
they took me away.
461
00:26:16,862 --> 00:26:18,696
I never went home again.
462
00:26:18,822 --> 00:26:22,450
I went to a cousin or something
outside of what happened,
463
00:26:22,576 --> 00:26:24,243
not to see anything.
464
00:26:24,369 --> 00:26:29,790
You know, they just took me away
from everything happened.
465
00:26:29,916 --> 00:26:31,917
The youngest
in a large family,
466
00:26:32,043 --> 00:26:34,794
his mother's illness
had been kept from Thierry,
467
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,421
and after her death,
468
00:26:36,547 --> 00:26:39,424
the sense that he had missed
such an important event
469
00:26:39,550 --> 00:26:42,218
stayed with him.
470
00:26:42,344 --> 00:26:46,014
Later, as an adult
raising his own family,
471
00:26:46,140 --> 00:26:48,099
Thierry became
increasingly compelled
472
00:26:48,225 --> 00:26:52,645
by the need to record the people
and events around him.
473
00:26:52,771 --> 00:26:57,107
You know, I felt like I should
capture everything on film,
474
00:26:57,233 --> 00:26:59,193
because I felt like everything
475
00:26:59,319 --> 00:27:00,986
that I would capture
at these moments,
476
00:27:01,112 --> 00:27:03,489
any time in my life
477
00:27:03,615 --> 00:27:08,076
would be the last time that
I would see it the same way.
478
00:27:08,203 --> 00:27:10,954
It was like a need
to be captured.
479
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,499
I would make them live forever,
480
00:27:13,625 --> 00:27:17,960
those moments, you know,
forever and ever.
481
00:27:18,086 --> 00:27:20,296
Making a documentary,
482
00:27:20,422 --> 00:27:25,301
it was like having the key
of getting all these people.
483
00:27:25,427 --> 00:27:27,428
That's why
I kept following them,
484
00:27:27,554 --> 00:27:31,474
following them,
following them.
485
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,185
And because I never made
a movie before
486
00:27:34,311 --> 00:27:36,771
and I don't know how to stop...
487
00:27:36,897 --> 00:27:41,775
and I don't know
how to stop...
488
00:27:41,901 --> 00:27:43,276
I kept going.
489
00:27:53,496 --> 00:27:55,247
As Thierry persevered
490
00:27:55,373 --> 00:27:57,916
with his quest to capture
the world of street art
491
00:27:58,042 --> 00:27:59,417
in its entirety,
492
00:27:59,544 --> 00:28:02,378
the profile of the one artist
who eluded him
493
00:28:02,504 --> 00:28:04,672
was about to become
bigger than ever.
494
00:28:27,361 --> 00:28:30,071
He faced Israeli army fire
to pull off his latest stunt.
495
00:28:30,197 --> 00:28:33,491
Subversive graffiti artist
Banksy, whose work...
496
00:28:33,617 --> 00:28:36,995
By targeting
the world's most notorious wall,
497
00:28:37,121 --> 00:28:40,373
Banksy turned a spot
of hit-and-run vandalism
498
00:28:40,499 --> 00:28:44,293
into an international
news event.
499
00:28:44,419 --> 00:28:45,752
Now it seemed everyone
500
00:28:45,878 --> 00:28:49,214
wanted to know the answer
to one question:
501
00:28:49,340 --> 00:28:52,551
Who was Banksy?
502
00:28:56,014 --> 00:28:58,557
His work seemed
to be everywhere,
503
00:28:58,683 --> 00:29:02,811
but the artist himself
remained as elusive as ever.
504
00:29:07,274 --> 00:29:10,610
He was, like,
the only one that I don't have,
505
00:29:10,736 --> 00:29:13,654
and people
that used to be in street art,
506
00:29:13,780 --> 00:29:17,575
they all tell you,
"Yeah, he doesn't have a phone,"
507
00:29:17,701 --> 00:29:20,453
or they...
even if they do have it,
508
00:29:20,579 --> 00:29:22,705
they wouldn't give it to me,
you know?
509
00:29:22,831 --> 00:29:25,958
I didn't know what way that
I'm gonna get this person,
510
00:29:26,084 --> 00:29:27,460
you know,
511
00:29:27,586 --> 00:29:30,754
what angel was gonna bring me
to that person.
512
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:34,466
With no leads to go on,
513
00:29:34,592 --> 00:29:38,261
Thierry was forced to accept
that he may never find a way
514
00:29:38,387 --> 00:29:41,765
to the mysterious Englishman.
515
00:29:41,891 --> 00:29:46,436
And then, miraculously...
516
00:29:46,562 --> 00:29:50,314
So I went to Los Angeles
at about spring 2006,
517
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:52,650
and when I got there,
518
00:29:52,776 --> 00:29:54,318
the guy that
was supposed to be helping me
519
00:29:54,444 --> 00:29:55,819
got turned back
at immigration,
520
00:29:55,945 --> 00:29:58,739
so I rang the only person I knew
in Los Angeles
521
00:29:58,865 --> 00:30:01,367
and asked them
if they could help me,
522
00:30:01,493 --> 00:30:03,786
and they said,
"Well, there's this French guy
523
00:30:03,912 --> 00:30:05,788
"who's a cousin
of Space Invader,
524
00:30:05,914 --> 00:30:11,001
"and he knows where
all the best walls are in L.A.
525
00:30:11,127 --> 00:30:12,418
He can help you out."
526
00:30:12,544 --> 00:30:15,254
I was in downtown
Los Angeles one day.
527
00:30:15,381 --> 00:30:19,050
My phone rings.
528
00:30:19,176 --> 00:30:20,343
"Hello?"
529
00:30:20,469 --> 00:30:23,096
"Hello, this is Shepard Fairey.
530
00:30:23,222 --> 00:30:24,681
How are you doing, Thierry?"
531
00:30:24,807 --> 00:30:26,140
"Yeah."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
532
00:30:26,266 --> 00:30:27,809
"Yeah, do you have any walls?
533
00:30:27,935 --> 00:30:31,729
Because I have Banksy here,
and I would like"...
534
00:30:31,855 --> 00:30:33,855
And I said, "What?
You have who?"
535
00:30:33,981 --> 00:30:35,315
I'm like, ""
536
00:30:35,441 --> 00:30:37,442
"Yeah, yeah,
there is Banksy here, and"...
537
00:30:37,568 --> 00:30:40,112
I'm like, "Where...are...you?"
538
00:30:46,786 --> 00:30:47,953
Red light.
I stay.
539
00:30:48,079 --> 00:30:49,246
I vrrr...
I go through red light.
540
00:30:51,582 --> 00:30:53,250
I was driving like crazy.
541
00:30:53,376 --> 00:30:55,960
I mean, I'm lucky
I didn't get caught that day.
542
00:30:59,131 --> 00:31:00,506
So this guy shows up
543
00:31:00,632 --> 00:31:02,466
looking like something
out of the 1860s,
544
00:31:02,592 --> 00:31:05,636
with these, like,
huge sideburns, sweating,
545
00:31:05,762 --> 00:31:07,138
telling me
he could do anything;
546
00:31:07,264 --> 00:31:08,472
he could take me anywhere;
547
00:31:08,598 --> 00:31:10,391
he could get me
whatever I wanted;
548
00:31:10,517 --> 00:31:12,560
he could fix it all up.
549
00:31:12,686 --> 00:31:15,980
"Yeah, yeah, yeah,
like, what do you want?
550
00:31:16,106 --> 00:31:17,314
"Anything you want.
551
00:31:17,441 --> 00:31:18,648
What do you want?"
552
00:31:18,774 --> 00:31:19,983
He said,
"Have you got a phone?"
553
00:31:20,109 --> 00:31:21,401
And I said no,
554
00:31:21,527 --> 00:31:22,902
so he went to a phone shop
over the road
555
00:31:23,028 --> 00:31:24,195
and bought me a phone,
556
00:31:24,321 --> 00:31:25,572
and he bought $100 worth
of credit
557
00:31:25,698 --> 00:31:26,990
and punched his number in
and said,
558
00:31:27,116 --> 00:31:28,408
"Right, this is my number.
559
00:31:28,534 --> 00:31:31,327
You call me.
I have everything you need."
560
00:31:31,454 --> 00:31:33,121
"I drive you
if you need to go anywhere.
561
00:31:33,247 --> 00:31:36,040
"I'll take care of you,
whatever, whatever.
562
00:31:36,167 --> 00:31:37,751
"I'll be your driver.
563
00:31:37,877 --> 00:31:40,878
"I'm not doing anything.
"I'm not doing anything.
564
00:31:41,004 --> 00:31:45,382
I'm not doing anything
at any time."
565
00:31:45,508 --> 00:31:46,925
So on the understanding
566
00:31:47,051 --> 00:31:48,802
that he would just help me
make some paintings,
567
00:31:48,928 --> 00:31:51,722
we went out that evening.
568
00:31:51,848 --> 00:31:54,224
Circumstances had conspired
569
00:31:54,350 --> 00:31:56,226
to bring Thierry face-to-face
570
00:31:56,352 --> 00:31:58,729
with the notoriously
secretive artist,
571
00:31:58,855 --> 00:32:01,564
and fate remained
on Thierry's side
572
00:32:01,690 --> 00:32:03,649
when he got his camera out.
573
00:32:03,776 --> 00:32:07,236
Well, I'd never let anybody
film anything before,
574
00:32:07,362 --> 00:32:09,697
but I said he could film me,
575
00:32:09,823 --> 00:32:14,410
but only my hands,
from behind,
576
00:32:14,536 --> 00:32:18,164
and on condition that I could
check the tapes afterwards.
577
00:32:23,086 --> 00:32:28,131
It was magic that this person
let me film, you know?
578
00:32:28,257 --> 00:32:34,513
I felt like I had the piece
that will finish the puzzle.
579
00:32:34,639 --> 00:32:41,102
It was like getting something
in the daylight
580
00:32:41,229 --> 00:32:45,397
that what you see
in the night light.
581
00:32:45,524 --> 00:32:47,608
He was even more
than I expected.
582
00:32:47,734 --> 00:32:50,945
I mean, he was, like,
just incredible.
583
00:32:51,071 --> 00:32:52,238
He was cool.
584
00:32:52,364 --> 00:32:54,907
He was...
he was human.
585
00:32:55,033 --> 00:32:57,660
He was... he was...
he was...
586
00:32:57,786 --> 00:33:01,080
he was... he is the...
587
00:33:01,206 --> 00:33:06,585
you know, he's really
like what he represent.
588
00:33:06,711 --> 00:33:08,336
You know, he's really, like...
589
00:33:08,462 --> 00:33:10,004
I think he's really, like...
590
00:33:10,130 --> 00:33:11,631
I really liked him.
591
00:33:17,304 --> 00:33:19,472
For the rest
of Banksy's stay,
592
00:33:19,598 --> 00:33:22,308
Thierry made himself
indispensable,
593
00:33:22,434 --> 00:33:24,978
leading the artist to some
of the best painting spots
594
00:33:25,104 --> 00:33:26,354
in the city.
595
00:33:31,442 --> 00:33:33,318
I mean, Thierry
was the perfect host
596
00:33:33,444 --> 00:33:35,737
if you're a graffiti rat
and you're miles from home.
597
00:33:35,864 --> 00:33:37,531
He had no fear.
598
00:33:37,657 --> 00:33:41,368
He wanted to keep going
all night long,
599
00:33:41,494 --> 00:33:43,287
and he had a massive larder.
600
00:33:52,004 --> 00:33:53,504
click!
601
00:33:57,634 --> 00:34:01,345
A few weeks after
their chance encounter in L.A.,
602
00:34:01,471 --> 00:34:03,347
Banksy invited Thierry
to England.
603
00:34:04,766 --> 00:34:06,517
I always avoided cameras,
604
00:34:06,643 --> 00:34:11,814
'cause what I do is
in a bit of a legal gray area,
605
00:34:11,940 --> 00:34:14,274
but I brought Thierry
over to London
606
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:15,692
because it seemed
like a good idea:
607
00:34:15,818 --> 00:34:17,485
start videoing the work.
608
00:34:17,612 --> 00:34:19,779
I mean, we had to,
'cause, you know,
609
00:34:19,906 --> 00:34:22,407
a lot of it was starting
to disappear the next day.
610
00:34:27,663 --> 00:34:29,539
But Banksy's
close-knit team
611
00:34:29,665 --> 00:34:30,874
of trusted friends
612
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:32,834
was horrified
by the sudden appearance
613
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,544
of this camera-happy Frenchman.
614
00:34:35,670 --> 00:34:37,463
The first time that Thierry
was filming Banksy,
615
00:34:37,589 --> 00:34:39,048
I was like,
"What the fuck is going on?"
616
00:34:39,174 --> 00:34:42,092
I thought, you know, that nobody
was allowed to do this.
617
00:34:42,218 --> 00:34:45,888
I thought it was
a big breach of security.
618
00:34:46,014 --> 00:34:47,348
Being the man of mystery
619
00:34:47,474 --> 00:34:49,600
and being filmed
at the same time
620
00:34:49,726 --> 00:34:51,101
is a slight oxymoron,
I think.
621
00:34:51,227 --> 00:34:53,395
It's a very dangerous thing.
622
00:34:53,521 --> 00:34:55,439
All the people
who was working with him,
623
00:34:55,565 --> 00:34:56,898
they didn't understand.
624
00:34:57,024 --> 00:34:58,816
They look at me like,
"Who is this?
625
00:34:58,943 --> 00:35:00,526
Who is this guy?"
626
00:35:00,653 --> 00:35:02,320
You know,
"What is he gonna do to us?"
627
00:35:02,446 --> 00:35:03,571
You know?
628
00:35:03,697 --> 00:35:06,240
And he didn't care whatsoever.
629
00:35:06,367 --> 00:35:07,575
Two, three.
630
00:35:14,708 --> 00:35:16,084
I guess Thierry
showed up at a time
631
00:35:16,210 --> 00:35:18,961
when I realized
that the reaction to this stuff
632
00:35:19,087 --> 00:35:23,131
was, you know, one of the most
interesting things about it,
633
00:35:23,257 --> 00:35:25,092
because for me, it's
an important part of the job
634
00:35:25,218 --> 00:35:27,636
to run away
as soon as we've done it,
635
00:35:27,762 --> 00:35:29,012
but at least with Thierry,
636
00:35:29,138 --> 00:35:30,722
we had someone hanging round
afterwards
637
00:35:30,848 --> 00:35:32,641
who could capture some of it.
638
00:35:32,767 --> 00:35:36,520
This is when I saw
that he was, like, a legend.
639
00:35:36,646 --> 00:35:41,107
He was like kind of
a Robin Hood or something.
640
00:35:41,233 --> 00:35:43,025
- You know Banksy?
- Yeah.
641
00:35:43,151 --> 00:35:44,568
- You know Banksy?
- I don't know.
642
00:35:44,695 --> 00:35:45,987
I mean, I heard about him.
643
00:35:46,113 --> 00:35:49,281
He does
very, very good graffiti.
644
00:35:49,408 --> 00:35:51,117
Looks a bit like Banksy,
645
00:35:51,243 --> 00:35:54,829
but I know he's doing a bit more
installations at the moment.
646
00:35:54,955 --> 00:35:56,747
I like it.
I like it.
647
00:35:56,873 --> 00:35:58,207
What do you think of it?
648
00:35:58,333 --> 00:36:04,796
Someone is annoyed
with BT telephones.
649
00:36:04,922 --> 00:36:07,841
Yeah, we were, you know,
laughing like trains
650
00:36:07,967 --> 00:36:09,968
at all this stuff
he got out of it.
651
00:36:10,094 --> 00:36:13,263
So yeah, he proved his worth
on that project,
652
00:36:13,389 --> 00:36:14,681
brought something to it
653
00:36:14,807 --> 00:36:16,975
that we would never have had
otherwise.
654
00:36:21,439 --> 00:36:23,231
Over the rest
of his time in London,
655
00:36:23,357 --> 00:36:25,524
Banksy took Thierry everywhere,
656
00:36:25,650 --> 00:36:28,861
even allowing him to film
inside his studio
657
00:36:28,987 --> 00:36:32,823
as he prepared
for his first big American show.
658
00:36:32,949 --> 00:36:34,908
He opened his door to me,
659
00:36:35,035 --> 00:36:39,788
and it was magic
kind of way.
660
00:36:39,914 --> 00:36:43,083
You ask the question,
"Why me?" in the end.
661
00:36:43,209 --> 00:36:46,878
"Why?"
662
00:36:47,004 --> 00:36:48,963
I think maybe Thierry
663
00:36:49,089 --> 00:36:51,966
was like a bit of a release
for me, you know?
664
00:36:52,092 --> 00:36:53,551
Having spent years
665
00:36:53,677 --> 00:36:56,804
of trying to keep everything
completely under wraps,
666
00:36:56,930 --> 00:36:59,599
maybe I needed
to trust somebody.
667
00:36:59,725 --> 00:37:04,103
I mean, I guess part
of the power of Thierry
668
00:37:04,229 --> 00:37:06,773
is this unlikely...
669
00:37:06,899 --> 00:37:08,690
the unlikeliness of it.
670
00:37:08,816 --> 00:37:10,317
Yeah, you know?
671
00:37:10,443 --> 00:37:12,527
I guess he became my friend.
672
00:37:21,370 --> 00:37:22,662
It's all money.
673
00:37:22,789 --> 00:37:24,915
My God.
My God.
674
00:37:25,041 --> 00:37:26,458
It is real?
675
00:37:31,463 --> 00:37:33,923
It's Lady Di
instead of the queen.
676
00:37:34,049 --> 00:37:35,257
It's so cool.
677
00:37:35,383 --> 00:37:36,842
I made £1 million worth,
678
00:37:36,968 --> 00:37:40,638
and I was gonna throw it
off a building, just like...
679
00:37:40,764 --> 00:37:41,972
But I took some out,
680
00:37:42,099 --> 00:37:45,267
and I handed some out
first of all,
681
00:37:45,393 --> 00:37:46,644
and people spent them,
682
00:37:46,770 --> 00:37:48,312
and people were like,
"Yeah.
683
00:37:48,438 --> 00:37:50,397
Two beers.
A couple beers."
684
00:37:50,524 --> 00:37:51,857
Nobody noticed,
685
00:37:51,983 --> 00:37:54,400
because when you
got them like this,
686
00:37:54,527 --> 00:37:56,569
you can actually spend them.
687
00:37:56,695 --> 00:37:58,113
And they won't know.
688
00:37:58,239 --> 00:38:00,406
And when that happened,
it was like, "Holy shit.
689
00:38:00,533 --> 00:38:05,120
We just... we just forged
a million quid."
690
00:38:05,246 --> 00:38:09,165
And obviously, for that,
you go to jail for ten years.
691
00:38:09,291 --> 00:38:10,583
So I have them up here,
692
00:38:10,709 --> 00:38:12,627
but I don't know
what to do with them.
693
00:38:12,753 --> 00:38:14,962
You find it here?
694
00:38:15,088 --> 00:38:16,296
I made it.
695
00:38:16,422 --> 00:38:17,673
Wow, you made this?
696
00:38:17,799 --> 00:38:19,842
For fuck's sake,
I printed it.
697
00:38:19,968 --> 00:38:22,511
My God.
698
00:38:26,141 --> 00:38:27,599
Back in L.A.,
699
00:38:27,725 --> 00:38:30,018
Thierry struggled
to keep himself entertained
700
00:38:30,145 --> 00:38:32,813
after the high
of his scoop with Banksy.
701
00:38:37,067 --> 00:38:38,234
I'm like a bird.
702
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:39,527
I always thought of that.
703
00:38:39,653 --> 00:38:40,945
I'm like a bird.
704
00:38:41,071 --> 00:38:42,947
I never want to be
locked down anywhere.
705
00:38:43,073 --> 00:38:46,492
I like to fly
from one artist to another.
706
00:38:46,618 --> 00:38:48,452
You know,
that's the way that I live,
707
00:38:48,579 --> 00:38:50,288
one life to another.
708
00:38:50,414 --> 00:38:51,789
You know, I like to be free.
709
00:38:51,915 --> 00:38:54,333
You know,
my wife was worried
710
00:38:54,459 --> 00:38:56,919
because, you know,
bill to pays,
711
00:38:57,045 --> 00:38:59,588
and me, the only thing
I wanted to do
712
00:38:59,714 --> 00:39:04,593
was, like, buy some tape
and go somewhere, you know?
713
00:39:07,138 --> 00:39:10,182
I wasn't worried,
but I'm sure my wife
714
00:39:10,308 --> 00:39:14,978
had a little problem
of sleeping sometime.
715
00:39:15,104 --> 00:39:17,230
He was following the artists,
716
00:39:17,356 --> 00:39:19,941
and he goes to here,
he goes there,
717
00:39:20,067 --> 00:39:21,233
and I worry.
718
00:39:21,359 --> 00:39:22,484
I worry for my kids.
719
00:39:22,611 --> 00:39:23,861
I worry for everybody,
actually,
720
00:39:23,987 --> 00:39:25,154
but he doesn't care.
721
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:26,488
He just goes and does.
722
00:39:26,615 --> 00:39:28,282
And he forgets
he comes with a family.
723
00:39:28,408 --> 00:39:31,327
You know, just...
we need him.
724
00:39:32,704 --> 00:39:34,872
Bye, Gigi!
Bye, Jackie!
725
00:39:34,998 --> 00:39:36,165
Bye!
726
00:39:36,291 --> 00:39:38,292
I love you!
727
00:39:44,006 --> 00:39:45,215
For five years,
728
00:39:45,341 --> 00:39:47,050
Thierry's family
had learned to cope
729
00:39:47,176 --> 00:39:48,801
with his endless trips away,
730
00:39:48,928 --> 00:39:51,554
but now there was
a new development
731
00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:52,847
taking up his time.
732
00:39:52,973 --> 00:39:54,349
The way it started,
733
00:39:54,475 --> 00:39:57,268
I took picture
of me holding a camera,
734
00:39:57,394 --> 00:40:00,521
and I asked somebody
to illustrate it,
735
00:40:00,648 --> 00:40:04,650
and I liked it,
so I made a small sticker.
736
00:40:04,776 --> 00:40:07,694
And I made it transparent,
you know,
737
00:40:07,820 --> 00:40:09,696
because I never solid,
transparent.
738
00:40:09,822 --> 00:40:14,368
A transparent looked
like a little stencil in a way.
739
00:40:14,494 --> 00:40:16,828
And I liked it,
so I went to Kinko's,
740
00:40:16,955 --> 00:40:19,581
because I learned from "Obey"
and things like this,
741
00:40:19,707 --> 00:40:22,167
and I started making
that photocopy...
742
00:40:22,293 --> 00:40:26,379
I don't know... 30 feet
by 40 feet high, you know?
743
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:33,261
And I went at 10:00 at night
744
00:40:33,387 --> 00:40:37,014
until 8:00 in the morning,
745
00:40:37,140 --> 00:40:39,475
and I made, like,
this image giant
746
00:40:39,601 --> 00:40:41,143
of me with the camera.
747
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:47,233
That big image, I thought
it was kind of cool.
748
00:40:50,403 --> 00:40:51,945
And I start doing it
749
00:40:52,071 --> 00:40:55,573
kind of the same story
of "Obey,"
750
00:40:55,700 --> 00:41:00,954
following the movement
of street art.
751
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,291
I start to make copies,
make it bigger,
752
00:41:04,417 --> 00:41:07,877
and starting to put it
all around the city.
753
00:41:08,004 --> 00:41:11,255
The enjoyment
of taking the glue
754
00:41:11,381 --> 00:41:13,757
and making the thing
and going,
755
00:41:13,883 --> 00:41:15,509
I was, like, addict.
756
00:41:17,721 --> 00:41:21,432
It was like a spiral,
and I just fall in it.
757
00:41:21,558 --> 00:41:23,434
I just fall in the spiral.
"Aaaah!"
758
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,186
I fall, like, making the art.
759
00:41:33,652 --> 00:41:36,571
A few months after
Thierry had seen him in London,
760
00:41:36,697 --> 00:41:38,781
Banksy returned to Los Angeles.
761
00:41:38,907 --> 00:41:40,450
He had arrived with his crew
762
00:41:40,576 --> 00:41:43,119
to transform
a large run-down warehouse
763
00:41:43,245 --> 00:41:46,998
into the venue for
his first major U.S. exhibition,
764
00:41:47,124 --> 00:41:49,292
"Barely Legal."
765
00:41:49,418 --> 00:41:51,586
My God.
766
00:41:51,712 --> 00:41:53,421
It's really big.
767
00:41:55,882 --> 00:41:57,174
It is giant.
768
00:41:57,300 --> 00:41:58,884
Trippy.
769
00:41:59,010 --> 00:42:01,511
It's the biggest elephant
I ever saw in my life.
770
00:42:01,637 --> 00:42:04,848
Look at this.
It's really big.
771
00:42:08,436 --> 00:42:10,103
But Banksy
had more on his mind
772
00:42:10,229 --> 00:42:12,147
than getting
the show's surprise guest
773
00:42:12,273 --> 00:42:15,025
ready for her big moment.
774
00:42:18,195 --> 00:42:20,571
We were right in the middle
of putting the show together,
775
00:42:20,697 --> 00:42:22,239
and I had this idea
776
00:42:22,366 --> 00:42:24,784
to make a piece
about Guantánamo Bay
777
00:42:24,910 --> 00:42:26,869
and the detention
of all these terror suspects,
778
00:42:26,995 --> 00:42:29,663
so I took Thierry with me,
779
00:42:29,790 --> 00:42:33,042
and we didn't tell
anyone else about it,
780
00:42:33,168 --> 00:42:37,879
and we just shot off, like,
the morning before the show.
781
00:42:38,005 --> 00:42:39,297
I came, picked him up.
782
00:42:39,423 --> 00:42:41,132
Just me and him.
783
00:42:41,258 --> 00:42:44,344
You know, I'm kind of excited
I'm going to Disneyland.
784
00:42:47,932 --> 00:42:50,308
In just a few moments,
we will begin our trip...
785
00:42:50,434 --> 00:42:52,894
It was around the anniversary
of September the 11th,
786
00:42:53,020 --> 00:42:56,689
so it was a pretty
high-temper moment.
787
00:42:56,816 --> 00:43:00,859
Can I get two adults
just for Disneyland, please?
788
00:43:00,985 --> 00:43:04,446
$2 is your change,
and your two Disneyland tickets.
789
00:43:04,572 --> 00:43:06,782
Is Mickey Mouse
gonna be there today?
790
00:43:06,908 --> 00:43:08,575
Yes, Mickey Mouse
will be there.
791
00:43:08,701 --> 00:43:10,577
You go to Toontown,
and he's waiting for you guys.
792
00:43:10,703 --> 00:43:11,870
Okay?
793
00:43:16,334 --> 00:43:18,252
So we've been wandering around
the park for a while,
794
00:43:18,378 --> 00:43:21,921
and then there's this sign
with a picture of a camera on it
795
00:43:22,047 --> 00:43:24,340
saying,
"This will be a great place
796
00:43:24,466 --> 00:43:26,175
to take your souvenir photo."
797
00:43:26,301 --> 00:43:30,930
So that obviously seemed
like the best place to put him.
798
00:43:31,056 --> 00:43:34,016
He's like, "This is
where I'm gonna do it."
799
00:43:34,143 --> 00:43:35,393
And I'm like, "Okay."
800
00:43:35,519 --> 00:43:37,770
He goes in the corner
801
00:43:37,896 --> 00:43:43,525
and starting to blow up,
through a pump, a doll.
802
00:43:43,651 --> 00:43:45,694
Tssh, tssh, tssh, tssh.
803
00:43:47,905 --> 00:43:50,449
And he goes,
and he start... put it in.
804
00:44:03,463 --> 00:44:04,921
And he put it.
805
00:44:05,047 --> 00:44:07,089
He attached it
to the metal bars,
806
00:44:07,215 --> 00:44:08,966
and he takes time,
807
00:44:09,092 --> 00:44:11,218
and it was kind of suspense,
808
00:44:11,344 --> 00:44:12,720
because, you know,
it's Disneyland.
809
00:44:12,846 --> 00:44:14,555
There is...
people comes.
810
00:44:27,359 --> 00:44:28,902
And then I walked off
one way
811
00:44:29,028 --> 00:44:31,738
and left Thierry there
filming it.
812
00:44:31,864 --> 00:44:33,448
And me, I'm filming,
taking pictures...
813
00:44:35,159 --> 00:44:36,701
Because it's like,
you know...
814
00:44:36,827 --> 00:44:38,369
it's, like, the moment
that I'm here for.
815
00:44:42,583 --> 00:44:46,294
In one moment,
they stopped the train.
816
00:44:46,420 --> 00:44:48,463
Sorry for the holdup, folks.
817
00:44:48,589 --> 00:44:49,755
Ladies and gentlemen,
818
00:44:49,881 --> 00:44:51,131
may I have your attention,
please?
819
00:44:51,257 --> 00:44:52,758
All of our trains are stopped.
820
00:44:56,596 --> 00:44:58,680
We start to see
some people coming in,
821
00:44:58,806 --> 00:45:01,183
security and people like this,
822
00:45:01,309 --> 00:45:05,646
but not dressed like security,
but look like, you know,
823
00:45:05,772 --> 00:45:07,314
like people who's not
at Disneyland
824
00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:08,815
to have fun, you know?
825
00:45:08,942 --> 00:45:12,318
So I'm starting to feel scared.
826
00:45:12,444 --> 00:45:15,488
I'm walking to leave.
827
00:45:15,614 --> 00:45:19,325
One guy is behind me;
two guys behind me;
828
00:45:19,451 --> 00:45:22,995
three guys behind me;
four guys behind me.
829
00:45:23,121 --> 00:45:24,747
And one moment,
830
00:45:24,873 --> 00:45:26,499
pom, pom,
pom, pom, pom,
831
00:45:26,625 --> 00:45:28,668
from every corner,
they were on me.
832
00:45:28,794 --> 00:45:30,169
I went in the toilet
to change my hat.
833
00:45:30,295 --> 00:45:31,462
I changed my shirt.
834
00:45:31,588 --> 00:45:33,004
Then I went out,
835
00:45:33,130 --> 00:45:35,090
and I went on the,
like, Indiana Jones ride,
836
00:45:35,216 --> 00:45:36,716
and then
when I came off that,
837
00:45:36,842 --> 00:45:39,010
I tried calling Thierry,
didn't get any answer,
838
00:45:39,136 --> 00:45:43,056
so then I went
on Pirates of the Caribbean.
839
00:45:46,143 --> 00:45:49,020
While Banksy
went on the rides,
840
00:45:49,146 --> 00:45:51,189
Thierry was being introduced
841
00:45:51,315 --> 00:45:55,359
to a very different side
of the Magic Kingdom.
842
00:45:55,485 --> 00:45:56,694
So they put me in a seat.
843
00:45:56,820 --> 00:46:02,116
There is a guy here,
a guy there...
844
00:46:02,242 --> 00:46:08,372
and they said, "You are
in big, big, big trouble."
845
00:46:08,498 --> 00:46:11,584
So they actually started
shutting down parts of the park.
846
00:46:11,710 --> 00:46:13,794
There was, like, walkie-talkies
crackling everywhere,
847
00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:15,879
and all of sudden,
848
00:46:16,006 --> 00:46:18,923
it seemed to be a very,
very serious thing indeed.
849
00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:24,637
Held in an interrogation room,
850
00:46:24,763 --> 00:46:27,599
Thierry was questioned
by Disney's security people
851
00:46:27,725 --> 00:46:32,729
and one man who claimed
he was from the FBI.
852
00:46:32,855 --> 00:46:36,399
I'm like, "I don't know
what you have on me.
853
00:46:36,525 --> 00:46:39,401
"I was there.
854
00:46:39,527 --> 00:46:40,944
"You're, like, telling me
855
00:46:41,070 --> 00:46:43,071
"that I have something to do
with this person.
856
00:46:43,197 --> 00:46:46,033
"I don't have anything to do
with this person.
857
00:46:46,159 --> 00:46:47,659
"I don't have anything
to do with it.
858
00:46:47,785 --> 00:46:50,621
"I mean, it's...
I was there at the wrong time
859
00:46:50,747 --> 00:46:52,831
"at the wrong moment,
you know.
860
00:46:52,957 --> 00:46:54,958
I was taking pictures,"
and things like this.
861
00:46:55,084 --> 00:46:56,793
And he says, "Did you take
a lot of pictures?"
862
00:46:56,919 --> 00:46:58,795
I said,
"No, I took one picture,"
863
00:46:58,921 --> 00:47:00,422
and things like this,
864
00:47:00,548 --> 00:47:06,719
"but I even delete it
when you guys came to me."
865
00:47:06,845 --> 00:47:09,430
No... the camera
is on the table.
866
00:47:09,556 --> 00:47:12,433
It's full of pictures,
867
00:47:12,559 --> 00:47:14,101
and I'm telling that
to the guy.
868
00:47:14,227 --> 00:47:16,562
So I'm lying completely.
869
00:47:16,688 --> 00:47:19,732
The only thing he has to do
is to turn on that camera.
870
00:47:19,858 --> 00:47:22,276
So I tried Thierry again,
and this time he answered,
871
00:47:22,402 --> 00:47:23,735
and I said, "Where are you?"
872
00:47:23,861 --> 00:47:26,279
And he said,
"Hello, my chéri,"
873
00:47:26,405 --> 00:47:28,448
and, "How are you,
my darling?"
874
00:47:28,574 --> 00:47:30,867
and, "How are the children?"
875
00:47:30,993 --> 00:47:33,119
And I thought, "Yeah."
876
00:47:33,245 --> 00:47:35,955
At that point, I thought
I'd better leave the park.
877
00:47:36,082 --> 00:47:37,957
He's like, "Okay,
show me the pictures."
878
00:47:38,084 --> 00:47:41,127
I take the camera...
I take him...
879
00:47:41,253 --> 00:47:43,380
I said, "Look."
880
00:47:43,506 --> 00:47:48,967
I put it on, I go...
I go on Menu right away,
881
00:47:49,094 --> 00:47:51,136
I go on Delete,
and I go, "Pffft!"
882
00:47:51,262 --> 00:47:52,971
And the thing goes,
"Vvvvt!"
883
00:47:53,098 --> 00:47:54,264
And I go, "Pom!"
884
00:47:54,391 --> 00:47:55,641
I put it down, and I said,
885
00:47:55,767 --> 00:47:57,685
"I don't have
any picture on him,
886
00:47:57,811 --> 00:47:59,978
"and I don't have any proof
on you.
887
00:48:00,105 --> 00:48:01,480
"I don't have nothing
with you guys,
888
00:48:01,606 --> 00:48:03,482
"and I don't have nothing
with this guy,
889
00:48:03,608 --> 00:48:05,150
because I don't know
who it is."
890
00:48:05,276 --> 00:48:08,486
Like this, I don't...
you know, I'm clear.
891
00:48:08,612 --> 00:48:12,365
After four hours
of questioning,
892
00:48:12,491 --> 00:48:15,451
with no evidence to hold him,
893
00:48:15,577 --> 00:48:18,538
Thierry was released.
894
00:48:18,664 --> 00:48:20,331
So after Thierry
withstood interrogation
895
00:48:20,457 --> 00:48:23,334
from the entire Mickey Mouse
security team...
896
00:48:23,460 --> 00:48:28,797
didn't fold,
didn't buckle;
897
00:48:28,923 --> 00:48:32,467
he did a really good job of
stashing the tape in his sock...
898
00:48:32,593 --> 00:48:35,637
I guess I trusted Thierry
with everything.
899
00:48:35,763 --> 00:48:37,889
He was my guy after that.
900
00:48:38,015 --> 00:48:39,182
Hey, man.
How are you?
901
00:48:39,308 --> 00:48:40,475
Good.
How are you doing?
902
00:48:40,601 --> 00:48:42,060
Yeah, yeah.
903
00:48:42,186 --> 00:48:45,522
The day after
his close shave with Disneyland,
904
00:48:45,648 --> 00:48:48,650
Thierry,
along with half of Hollywood.
905
00:48:48,776 --> 00:48:53,654
Was at the opening party
for Banksy's show.
906
00:48:53,780 --> 00:48:55,656
It was an even bigger star,
however,
907
00:48:55,782 --> 00:48:58,617
who provoked
the real sensation.
908
00:48:58,744 --> 00:49:01,662
Banksy had camouflaged
his rented elephant
909
00:49:01,788 --> 00:49:04,874
with 12 liters
of children's face paint
910
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:07,752
in an apparent statement
about how easy it is
911
00:49:07,878 --> 00:49:10,045
to ignore the things
right in front of us.
912
00:49:10,172 --> 00:49:13,631
But the American news media
could only see
913
00:49:13,758 --> 00:49:15,884
what was
right in front of them
914
00:49:16,010 --> 00:49:19,095
and came flocking to report
on the elephant in the room.
915
00:49:19,221 --> 00:49:20,388
I'm Angie Crouch.
916
00:49:20,514 --> 00:49:21,723
Coming up at 5:30,
917
00:49:21,849 --> 00:49:23,516
animal rights activists
are outraged
918
00:49:23,642 --> 00:49:25,727
over an art exhibit involving
a live painted elephant.
919
00:49:25,853 --> 00:49:27,270
"There's an elephant
in the room,
920
00:49:27,396 --> 00:49:29,230
a problem
that we never talk about,"
921
00:49:29,356 --> 00:49:31,566
says this small white card
given to visitors...
922
00:49:31,692 --> 00:49:33,276
What's the matter?
923
00:49:33,402 --> 00:49:34,693
Just say when.
924
00:49:34,819 --> 00:49:36,904
Um, you already
got your interview,
925
00:49:37,030 --> 00:49:38,363
so can you...
926
00:49:40,283 --> 00:49:41,825
The magical combination
927
00:49:41,951 --> 00:49:46,580
of controversy, celebrity,
and the painted elephant
928
00:49:46,706 --> 00:49:50,083
turned the show into an event.
929
00:49:53,379 --> 00:49:55,589
We had the sort of attendance
that you get for a decent show
930
00:49:55,715 --> 00:49:57,256
at the Museum of Modern Art
or something,
931
00:49:57,382 --> 00:50:00,968
only over three days
and in skid row.
932
00:50:01,094 --> 00:50:03,888
So I think a lot of the people
in the art world
933
00:50:04,014 --> 00:50:09,894
were a little bit confused as to
how that would happen, you know?
934
00:50:10,020 --> 00:50:12,271
As were we, to be honest.
935
00:50:12,397 --> 00:50:14,023
"Barely Legal"
936
00:50:14,149 --> 00:50:16,567
marked the point
at which street art
937
00:50:16,693 --> 00:50:19,069
was forced into the spotlight,
938
00:50:19,195 --> 00:50:22,864
attracting sudden interest
from the art establishment.
939
00:50:22,990 --> 00:50:24,533
In the months that followed,
940
00:50:24,659 --> 00:50:28,995
prices for work by
leading street artists rocketed,
941
00:50:29,121 --> 00:50:31,081
with collectors
rushing to get in
942
00:50:31,207 --> 00:50:33,458
on this exciting new market.
943
00:50:33,584 --> 00:50:36,461
Lot number 33A,
Banksy,
944
00:50:36,587 --> 00:50:38,213
the vandalized phone box.
945
00:50:38,339 --> 00:50:40,965
And I'll start the bid
at $100,000.
946
00:50:45,470 --> 00:50:48,722
Street art had become
a white-hot commodity.
947
00:50:48,849 --> 00:50:52,268
Now no serious
contemporary art collection
948
00:50:52,394 --> 00:50:55,521
would be complete
without a Banksy.
949
00:50:55,647 --> 00:50:58,983
For $550,000.
950
00:51:00,443 --> 00:51:02,068
Those little bunnies
are Warhols.
951
00:51:02,194 --> 00:51:03,945
That's a Lichtenstein.
952
00:51:04,071 --> 00:51:06,614
And then that's Keith Haring,
who I'm not a fan of.
953
00:51:06,740 --> 00:51:08,908
The Andy Warhol "Mao" is
the first thing I ever bought.
954
00:51:09,034 --> 00:51:10,910
I was, like, 20 years old,
and I put it on layaway,
955
00:51:11,036 --> 00:51:12,495
and it's, you know,
the smaller "Mao."
956
00:51:12,621 --> 00:51:14,122
And it's beautiful.
957
00:51:14,248 --> 00:51:18,209
I mean, it's beautiful,
but it's in the closet.
958
00:51:18,335 --> 00:51:21,337
Yeah, here's the Ba...
here's a big Banksy.
959
00:51:21,463 --> 00:51:22,797
That one's
from the show in L.A.
960
00:51:22,923 --> 00:51:24,840
I saw Banksy, and I thought
he was a genius,
961
00:51:24,966 --> 00:51:27,426
and every person I told
about him bought something,
962
00:51:27,552 --> 00:51:30,762
like people who have Picassos
and, you know, Mondrians
963
00:51:30,889 --> 00:51:32,264
and Paul Klee and...
964
00:51:32,390 --> 00:51:33,765
God, I don't even know
who else.
965
00:51:33,892 --> 00:51:35,976
They have...
I mean, serious collections.
966
00:51:36,102 --> 00:51:38,437
So then these
famous auction houses,
967
00:51:38,563 --> 00:51:40,898
all of a sudden,
they were selling street art,
968
00:51:41,024 --> 00:51:43,692
and everything
was getting a bit crazier,
969
00:51:43,818 --> 00:51:45,694
and suddenly, it had all become
about the money,
970
00:51:45,820 --> 00:51:47,445
but it never was
about the money.
971
00:51:47,571 --> 00:51:49,530
So I said to Thierry,
972
00:51:49,656 --> 00:51:51,782
"Right, you have the footage.
973
00:51:51,909 --> 00:51:54,160
"You can tell the real story
of what this art is about.
974
00:51:54,286 --> 00:51:55,494
"It's not about the hype.
975
00:51:55,621 --> 00:51:56,787
"It's not about the money.
976
00:51:56,914 --> 00:51:58,080
"Now is the time.
977
00:51:58,206 --> 00:51:59,707
You need to get your film out."
978
00:52:01,752 --> 00:52:08,048
Banksy had put Thierry
well and truly on the spot.
979
00:52:08,174 --> 00:52:09,633
He now had to devise a way
980
00:52:09,759 --> 00:52:13,845
to transform thousands of hours
of unwatched tapes
981
00:52:13,971 --> 00:52:15,555
into the epic documentary
982
00:52:15,681 --> 00:52:19,976
he had been promising
everyone for so long.
983
00:52:22,396 --> 00:52:25,440
So we start working
in the back of my house,
984
00:52:25,566 --> 00:52:28,109
doing some editing.
985
00:52:28,235 --> 00:52:30,945
It was, like, kind of a vision
that I saw.
986
00:52:31,071 --> 00:52:33,280
And the way that I made it,
987
00:52:33,406 --> 00:52:37,576
I really did it
kind of the way,
988
00:52:37,702 --> 00:52:40,829
you know, like,
when you have a bucket
989
00:52:40,956 --> 00:52:43,082
and you have a lot of numbers
990
00:52:43,208 --> 00:52:44,583
and you said...
991
00:52:44,709 --> 00:52:46,543
you look in one,
and you open,
992
00:52:46,670 --> 00:52:48,712
and you said,
"This is the number 12."
993
00:52:48,838 --> 00:52:51,881
This is the way that I made it,
kind of way.
994
00:52:52,007 --> 00:52:54,634
I used to... couple tape here,
couple tape here,
995
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:56,761
couple tape here,
couple tape here,
996
00:52:56,887 --> 00:52:58,388
take a little piece over here,
997
00:52:58,514 --> 00:53:00,264
a little piece of that,
a little piece of that,
998
00:53:00,391 --> 00:53:02,100
and this is the way
that I made it.
999
00:53:02,226 --> 00:53:04,686
Okay, now let's go back
a little bit
1000
00:53:04,812 --> 00:53:06,729
and do a review,
because...
1001
00:53:06,855 --> 00:53:07,981
Like, what I say:
1002
00:53:08,107 --> 00:53:09,774
I'm playing chess.
1003
00:53:09,900 --> 00:53:11,609
I don't know how to play chess,
1004
00:53:11,735 --> 00:53:15,696
but life is a chess game
for me.
1005
00:53:28,292 --> 00:53:30,794
The following spring,
Thierry returned to England.
1006
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:32,254
I'm gonna do a flip.
1007
00:53:32,380 --> 00:53:33,630
All his years of filming
1008
00:53:33,756 --> 00:53:35,465
and thousands of hours
of material
1009
00:53:35,590 --> 00:53:38,467
had been crafted
into a 90-minute film
1010
00:53:38,593 --> 00:53:43,472
with the intriguing title
Life Remote Control.
1011
00:53:43,598 --> 00:53:45,182
He called up,
and he came to London
1012
00:53:45,308 --> 00:53:47,059
because he said
he'd nearly finished the film,
1013
00:53:47,185 --> 00:53:50,229
and he came round my house
and put the DVD on,
1014
00:53:50,355 --> 00:53:51,564
and he said, "This is it.
1015
00:53:51,690 --> 00:53:52,857
It's nearly finished."
1016
00:54:31,227 --> 00:54:34,480
Um...
you know,
1017
00:54:34,606 --> 00:54:36,231
it was at that point
that I realized
1018
00:54:36,357 --> 00:54:38,901
that maybe Thierry
wasn't actually a filmmaker
1019
00:54:39,027 --> 00:54:42,361
and he was maybe just someone
with mental problems
1020
00:54:42,488 --> 00:54:44,906
who happened to have a camera.
1021
00:54:48,994 --> 00:54:52,121
It just seemed to go on and on.
1022
00:54:52,247 --> 00:54:53,873
It was an hour and a half
1023
00:54:53,999 --> 00:54:58,002
of unwatchable
nightmare trailers,
1024
00:54:58,128 --> 00:55:00,254
essentially like somebody
with a short attention span
1025
00:55:00,380 --> 00:55:01,672
with a remote control
1026
00:55:01,799 --> 00:55:05,258
flicking through a cable box
of 900 channels.
1027
00:55:05,384 --> 00:55:06,760
Peace to the whole world.
1028
00:55:12,517 --> 00:55:14,226
You have to keep an eye
on the big picture.
1029
00:55:14,352 --> 00:55:16,394
I told him I'd never seen
anything like it,
1030
00:55:16,521 --> 00:55:17,896
and I wasn't lying about that.
1031
00:55:18,022 --> 00:55:19,940
Yeah, I was faced
with that terrible thing
1032
00:55:20,066 --> 00:55:22,275
when somebody
shows you their work
1033
00:55:22,401 --> 00:55:24,736
and everything about it
is shit
1034
00:55:24,862 --> 00:55:27,571
so you don't really know
where to start.
1035
00:55:27,697 --> 00:55:30,825
He's like, "It's good,"
you know?
1036
00:55:30,951 --> 00:55:33,953
"It's good," you know?
"It's good."
1037
00:55:35,705 --> 00:55:37,039
I mean, the thing is
1038
00:55:37,165 --> 00:55:39,083
that Thierry had
all this amazing footage
1039
00:55:39,209 --> 00:55:40,751
of all this stuff that,
you know,
1040
00:55:40,877 --> 00:55:42,294
in this tiny world
of street art,
1041
00:55:42,420 --> 00:55:43,796
was kind of important,
1042
00:55:43,922 --> 00:55:45,923
and it was
never gonna happen again.
1043
00:55:46,049 --> 00:55:48,049
So it felt right
to at least make something
1044
00:55:48,175 --> 00:55:50,426
that you could actually watch
about it.
1045
00:55:50,553 --> 00:55:52,345
So I thought, you know,
maybe I could have a go.
1046
00:55:52,471 --> 00:55:54,305
I mean, I don't know
how to make a film,
1047
00:55:54,431 --> 00:55:56,474
but obviously,
that hadn't stopped Thierry,
1048
00:55:56,600 --> 00:55:58,685
but I needed him
out of the way
1049
00:55:58,811 --> 00:56:00,895
in order to do it,
so I said,
1050
00:56:01,021 --> 00:56:03,022
"Why don't you go and put up
some more of your posters
1051
00:56:03,149 --> 00:56:06,401
"and make some art,
you know, have a little show,
1052
00:56:06,527 --> 00:56:10,279
invite a few people,
get some bottles of wine?"
1053
00:56:10,405 --> 00:56:12,531
And off he went
back to Los Angeles,
1054
00:56:12,657 --> 00:56:13,949
and he left me
with the tapes.
1055
00:56:18,454 --> 00:56:20,664
Thierry returned home
to Los Angeles
1056
00:56:20,790 --> 00:56:24,960
full of enthusiasm for
his unexpected new assignment.
1057
00:56:25,086 --> 00:56:26,503
Banksy had just given him
1058
00:56:26,629 --> 00:56:29,548
what he considered
to be a direct order:
1059
00:56:29,674 --> 00:56:32,800
to put down his camera
1060
00:56:32,926 --> 00:56:36,220
and become
a street artist himself.
1061
00:56:36,346 --> 00:56:38,306
I think he put me
into street art
1062
00:56:38,432 --> 00:56:40,850
because I like what he did.
1063
00:56:40,976 --> 00:56:44,520
Me, as respecting him,
you know,
1064
00:56:44,646 --> 00:56:47,190
having him to push you
to do street art,
1065
00:56:47,316 --> 00:56:50,484
I just went and, like...
it was not even a push.
1066
00:56:50,611 --> 00:56:53,653
It was, like, an enjoyment
to get pushed, you know.
1067
00:56:53,779 --> 00:56:57,449
So now, using the
formula he had seen work so well
1068
00:56:57,575 --> 00:57:00,327
for the world's
biggest street artists,
1069
00:57:00,453 --> 00:57:03,830
Thierry set about creating
his own alter ego
1070
00:57:03,956 --> 00:57:06,625
and iconic visual style.
1071
00:57:13,341 --> 00:57:18,469
I came up with the idea
that the whole movement of art
1072
00:57:18,595 --> 00:57:21,388
is all about brainwashing.
1073
00:57:21,514 --> 00:57:24,850
"Obey" is about brainwashing.
1074
00:57:24,976 --> 00:57:28,729
Banksy's about brainwashing.
1075
00:57:28,855 --> 00:57:32,316
So I use MBW,
1076
00:57:32,442 --> 00:57:35,569
and I am Mr. Brainwash.
1077
00:57:38,948 --> 00:57:41,908
But Mr. Brainwash
had some catching up to do.
1078
00:57:42,034 --> 00:57:44,118
Many of the biggest names
in the street art world
1079
00:57:44,245 --> 00:57:45,870
had moved on to gallery shows,
1080
00:57:45,996 --> 00:57:47,538
so Thierry now started
1081
00:57:47,665 --> 00:57:52,126
to plan the next phase
of his artistic career.
1082
00:57:55,714 --> 00:57:57,674
Fuck!
1083
00:57:57,800 --> 00:57:59,549
Film! Film!
Come closer.
1084
00:57:59,676 --> 00:58:01,510
Look at the pink.
1085
00:58:19,904 --> 00:58:21,862
When Banksy
had suggested to Thierry
1086
00:58:21,989 --> 00:58:23,781
that he make some art,
1087
00:58:23,907 --> 00:58:27,618
he could never have imagined
just how far things would go.
1088
00:58:27,744 --> 00:58:29,161
We have a mountain of...
1089
00:58:29,288 --> 00:58:31,247
Thierry had now
remortgaged his business
1090
00:58:31,373 --> 00:58:33,040
and sold off whatever he could
1091
00:58:33,166 --> 00:58:37,128
to invest in a huge studio,
screen-printing equipment,
1092
00:58:37,254 --> 00:58:40,840
and a full-time staff
capable of producing MBW pieces
1093
00:58:40,966 --> 00:58:42,966
on a commercial scale.
1094
00:58:43,092 --> 00:58:46,469
Just wait one second.
Okay.
1095
00:58:46,595 --> 00:58:47,887
No.
1096
00:58:48,014 --> 00:58:51,308
Yes.
Yes.
1097
00:58:51,434 --> 00:58:53,101
When you have Damien Hirst,
1098
00:58:53,227 --> 00:58:59,190
one of the most expensive
artists in our generation today,
1099
00:58:59,317 --> 00:59:01,735
and having 100 people
working for him,
1100
00:59:01,861 --> 00:59:06,613
do you think that he's gonna
come and cut little papers
1101
00:59:06,740 --> 00:59:07,906
and start to glue?
1102
00:59:08,033 --> 00:59:09,199
No.
1103
00:59:09,326 --> 00:59:10,784
I'm not gonna make it.
1104
00:59:10,910 --> 00:59:13,162
I'm just gonna come
with the idea and say,
1105
00:59:13,288 --> 00:59:17,666
"This is what I want,
and I want this like that."
1106
00:59:20,003 --> 00:59:23,464
Thierry's creative process,
I guess,
1107
00:59:23,590 --> 00:59:26,674
he's inspired by other things.
1108
00:59:26,800 --> 00:59:29,719
I guess who isn't inspired
by other things?
1109
00:59:29,845 --> 00:59:30,970
We have, like...
look at this.
1110
00:59:31,096 --> 00:59:32,597
Like, he goes, and he, like...
1111
00:59:32,723 --> 00:59:35,641
four different-color Post-its
in here.
1112
00:59:35,768 --> 00:59:37,518
That means... no, five,
I think.
1113
00:59:37,644 --> 00:59:39,687
So he went through this book
four or five times
1114
00:59:39,813 --> 00:59:41,397
and, like, selected
different pictures,
1115
00:59:41,523 --> 00:59:43,066
wrote notes,
1116
00:59:43,192 --> 00:59:46,069
and they're all in, like,
fairly bad English.
1117
00:59:46,195 --> 00:59:49,029
Thierry goes through the books.
1118
00:59:49,155 --> 00:59:50,864
He finds the paintings
that he likes,
1119
00:59:50,990 --> 00:59:53,450
and he comes up with the ideas
on what to change them,
1120
00:59:53,576 --> 00:59:56,745
and we scan the image,
1121
00:59:56,871 --> 00:59:58,663
and then we Photoshop.
1122
00:59:58,790 --> 01:00:00,040
This one is Elvis.
1123
01:00:00,166 --> 01:00:02,667
It's, like,
a piece that I made.
1124
01:00:02,794 --> 01:00:06,421
It's, like, I changed Elvis.
1125
01:00:06,547 --> 01:00:08,507
He had a guitar,
1126
01:00:08,633 --> 01:00:12,176
and I put in a toy
from Fisher-Price.
1127
01:00:12,302 --> 01:00:16,347
You know, a toy
from Fisher-Price,
1128
01:00:16,473 --> 01:00:20,643
and this piece called
"Don't Be Cruel."
1129
01:00:20,769 --> 01:00:22,686
And this is what I create.
1130
01:00:22,813 --> 01:00:25,189
It's, like, to trying
to do some lines
1131
01:00:25,315 --> 01:00:28,943
that,
when you're close to it,
1132
01:00:29,069 --> 01:00:30,736
when you're
really close to it,
1133
01:00:30,862 --> 01:00:32,362
you just see lines.
1134
01:00:32,488 --> 01:00:33,822
Any kind of people,
1135
01:00:33,948 --> 01:00:35,573
they come to the market,
and what they see?
1136
01:00:35,699 --> 01:00:36,866
Bar code.
1137
01:00:36,992 --> 01:00:38,159
They come to the thing,
1138
01:00:38,285 --> 01:00:39,452
so they leave with it.
1139
01:00:39,578 --> 01:00:41,079
They brainwash.
1140
01:00:41,205 --> 01:00:44,374
That's why I call myself
Mr. Brainwash.
1141
01:00:44,500 --> 01:00:48,378
It's because everything
that I do
1142
01:00:48,504 --> 01:00:51,506
somewhere brainwash your face.
1143
01:00:51,632 --> 01:00:53,591
This is one piece
that I really like,
1144
01:00:53,717 --> 01:00:54,883
kind of way,
1145
01:00:55,009 --> 01:01:03,308
an it says, "Bat Papi, 1893."
1146
01:01:03,435 --> 01:01:04,601
It's before Batman.
1147
01:01:04,727 --> 01:01:06,395
It's Bat Papi.
1148
01:01:06,521 --> 01:01:10,107
You know, the papi,
it's the father of...
1149
01:01:10,233 --> 01:01:11,650
the grandfather of Batman.
1150
01:01:11,776 --> 01:01:13,068
You know?
1151
01:01:13,194 --> 01:01:15,821
That's who started,
you know?
1152
01:01:15,947 --> 01:01:18,072
While most artists
1153
01:01:18,198 --> 01:01:20,366
work their way up
from small beginnings,
1154
01:01:20,492 --> 01:01:23,578
Thierry was determined
that Mr. Brainwash
1155
01:01:23,704 --> 01:01:26,372
would arrive with a bang.
1156
01:01:37,050 --> 01:01:41,887
The former CBS studio complex
covering 15,000 square feet
1157
01:01:42,013 --> 01:01:43,138
in the heart of old Hollywood
1158
01:01:43,264 --> 01:01:44,764
had lain empty
for almost a year
1159
01:01:44,891 --> 01:01:48,518
until Thierry decided
it would make the perfect venue
1160
01:01:48,644 --> 01:01:54,608
for his debut show,
"Life is Beautiful."
1161
01:01:54,734 --> 01:01:57,152
I didn't want
to disappoint Banksy.
1162
01:01:57,278 --> 01:02:00,821
I wanted to try
to do something big.
1163
01:02:06,536 --> 01:02:09,622
In the end, it's gonna become,
like, a big space
1164
01:02:09,748 --> 01:02:11,707
with pictures all around.
1165
01:02:11,833 --> 01:02:14,251
I want to make it
more like a show.
1166
01:02:14,377 --> 01:02:15,961
Like, there is
a park amusement;
1167
01:02:16,087 --> 01:02:18,464
I'm making it
an art amusement.
1168
01:02:18,590 --> 01:02:21,467
You know, I change "park"
to "art."
1169
01:02:21,593 --> 01:02:25,762
Thierry's plan was
to emulate Banksy's L.A. show
1170
01:02:25,888 --> 01:02:27,805
by transforming
the cavernous space
1171
01:02:27,932 --> 01:02:31,643
into a street art spectacular
filled not just with paintings
1172
01:02:31,769 --> 01:02:34,938
but sculptures
and installations too.
1173
01:02:35,064 --> 01:02:38,608
And if he didn't know how to do
any of these things himself,
1174
01:02:38,734 --> 01:02:41,945
he could always employ people
who did.
1175
01:02:42,071 --> 01:02:44,988
I answered a nondescript ad
1176
01:02:45,114 --> 01:02:53,163
looking for sculptors or artists
who could work in papier-mâché.
1177
01:02:53,289 --> 01:02:55,832
He said he just needed
some things built
1178
01:02:55,959 --> 01:02:57,459
and he wanted to know
if I could build him
1179
01:02:57,585 --> 01:02:58,961
an eight-foot-tall
spray paint can,
1180
01:02:59,087 --> 01:03:00,629
and I said, "Absolutely."
1181
01:03:00,755 --> 01:03:04,591
And he said, "Can you build me
a monster out of TVs?"
1182
01:03:04,717 --> 01:03:06,133
and I said, "Sure."
1183
01:03:06,260 --> 01:03:09,136
And then he actually
got us into the space
1184
01:03:09,263 --> 01:03:10,805
and had us working
on a day rate
1185
01:03:10,931 --> 01:03:15,393
so that he could kind of
keep coming up with projects
1186
01:03:15,519 --> 01:03:17,436
and change 'em around.
1187
01:03:20,148 --> 01:03:21,857
With a growing workforce
1188
01:03:21,984 --> 01:03:24,610
and Thierry adding new projects
by the hour,
1189
01:03:24,736 --> 01:03:26,445
the scale of his production
1190
01:03:26,572 --> 01:03:28,530
was now running far ahead
1191
01:03:28,656 --> 01:03:31,825
of the little show
Banksy had suggested.
1192
01:03:31,951 --> 01:03:37,080
I was so much focused on it
that I put all my money in it.
1193
01:03:37,206 --> 01:03:39,708
Everything that I owned,
I put it in it.
1194
01:03:39,834 --> 01:03:42,752
I was refinancing the house.
1195
01:03:42,878 --> 01:03:47,173
I was putting my life on...
1196
01:03:47,300 --> 01:03:51,594
on the border of losing
everything that I own.
1197
01:03:54,431 --> 01:03:56,724
And just
when it seemed that the pressure
1198
01:03:56,850 --> 01:03:58,976
couldn't get any more intense,
1199
01:03:59,102 --> 01:04:00,561
and with his grand opening
1200
01:04:00,687 --> 01:04:03,480
now set
for just three weeks away,
1201
01:04:03,607 --> 01:04:06,066
disaster struck.
1202
01:04:20,331 --> 01:04:22,248
So basically,
this is the... called...
1203
01:04:22,374 --> 01:04:23,750
this bone's called
your metatarsal,
1204
01:04:23,876 --> 01:04:25,251
and this is the fifth one.
1205
01:04:25,377 --> 01:04:27,503
It's all the way
on the side of your foot.
1206
01:04:27,630 --> 01:04:29,589
And you fractured it
right through here,
1207
01:04:29,715 --> 01:04:31,924
and this piece has been
pulled back a little bit.
1208
01:04:32,051 --> 01:04:33,634
- You see that?
- Yeah.
1209
01:04:36,596 --> 01:04:37,888
Needing an operation,
1210
01:04:38,014 --> 01:04:40,557
Thierry was ordered
to slow things down,
1211
01:04:40,683 --> 01:04:45,854
and now, under the influence
of pain-numbing drugs,
1212
01:04:45,980 --> 01:04:48,523
he at last glimpsed the enormity
1213
01:04:48,650 --> 01:04:51,234
of the enterprise
he had embarked upon.
1214
01:04:55,864 --> 01:05:00,826
It's just so much work to do,
prices, and...
1215
01:05:00,952 --> 01:05:03,996
it's like being an artist
overnight.
1216
01:05:04,122 --> 01:05:07,750
You know,
that's what's happening to me.
1217
01:05:07,876 --> 01:05:09,043
You know?
1218
01:05:09,169 --> 01:05:11,545
I'm nobody.
1219
01:05:11,672 --> 01:05:17,385
I never did an exposition
in a gallery, really.
1220
01:05:17,510 --> 01:05:20,595
I never show any work anywhere,
1221
01:05:20,721 --> 01:05:22,472
and I'm doing this big show,
1222
01:05:22,598 --> 01:05:28,061
and it's all... it's all
a make-up kind of way, you know?
1223
01:05:30,272 --> 01:05:32,899
I mean, it was all starting
to sound a little bit crazy.
1224
01:05:33,025 --> 01:05:34,526
These reports are coming back
1225
01:05:34,652 --> 01:05:36,945
saying that Thierry
had found this huge warehouse
1226
01:05:37,071 --> 01:05:38,655
and then he'd broken his leg
1227
01:05:38,781 --> 01:05:41,156
and it was all kind of going
a little bit wrong.
1228
01:05:41,282 --> 01:05:43,867
You know, it sounded like
he needed a little bit of help,
1229
01:05:43,993 --> 01:05:46,620
so I rung a few people
1230
01:05:46,746 --> 01:05:48,455
that I thought might be able
to help him out.
1231
01:05:48,581 --> 01:05:50,582
Like, this room looks cool.
1232
01:05:50,709 --> 01:05:51,834
This room looks interesting.
1233
01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:54,169
This room looks almost done.
1234
01:05:54,295 --> 01:05:59,258
If this room stayed like this,
that's cool, but...
1235
01:05:59,384 --> 01:06:01,176
But that's one
out of four, five, six.
1236
01:06:01,302 --> 01:06:03,511
That makes the rest
of the rooms look bad.
1237
01:06:03,637 --> 01:06:05,847
Myself and my girlfriend, Sonja,
went down there,
1238
01:06:05,973 --> 01:06:08,850
and we figured out
what he needed
1239
01:06:08,976 --> 01:06:11,978
along with a few
of the show's other producers.
1240
01:06:12,104 --> 01:06:15,106
We made lists
of what needed to happen.
1241
01:06:15,232 --> 01:06:16,607
What's the capacity
of this place?
1242
01:06:16,734 --> 01:06:18,443
I don't know.
1243
01:06:18,569 --> 01:06:20,653
Capacity's approximately
gonna be, like, 750 to 800.
1244
01:06:20,779 --> 01:06:21,946
Got it.
1245
01:06:22,072 --> 01:06:23,239
What about getting...
1246
01:06:23,364 --> 01:06:24,698
I was very curious how the hell
1247
01:06:24,824 --> 01:06:27,409
he was actually gonna finish it
and pull it off
1248
01:06:27,535 --> 01:06:29,202
and realized
he didn't have a clue
1249
01:06:29,328 --> 01:06:31,872
of a lot of the final logistics
that needed to happen.
1250
01:06:31,998 --> 01:06:33,749
Like I saw in Banksy's show,
1251
01:06:33,875 --> 01:06:37,419
mostly, the people
came and came back.
1252
01:06:37,545 --> 01:06:39,296
He'd seen people
do big art shows.
1253
01:06:39,422 --> 01:06:40,922
He'd been to them
around the world.
1254
01:06:41,048 --> 01:06:44,384
He figured, "I want
to do something just as great."
1255
01:06:44,510 --> 01:06:45,801
And the insurance?
1256
01:06:45,927 --> 01:06:47,428
The insurance,
we're taking care of.
1257
01:06:47,554 --> 01:06:48,971
With Roger and the team
1258
01:06:49,097 --> 01:06:52,099
now taking care of
the practical arrangements,
1259
01:06:52,225 --> 01:06:54,185
Thierry was free to spend time
1260
01:06:54,311 --> 01:06:56,187
selecting which
of his many pieces to include
1261
01:06:56,313 --> 01:06:57,480
in the show.
1262
01:06:57,606 --> 01:07:00,274
Valet parking,
or they just go?
1263
01:07:00,400 --> 01:07:02,526
But instead,
Thierry busied himself
1264
01:07:02,652 --> 01:07:06,739
with a different concern
altogether...
1265
01:07:06,865 --> 01:07:09,032
hype.
1266
01:07:13,037 --> 01:07:16,164
He asked me
to promote the show for him,
1267
01:07:16,290 --> 01:07:19,042
to give him a quote
for a press release,
1268
01:07:19,168 --> 01:07:21,878
to send it to my mailing list,
to post it on my website,
1269
01:07:22,004 --> 01:07:25,840
and really, to validate
what he was doing.
1270
01:07:25,966 --> 01:07:28,218
And I was uncomfortable
with that,
1271
01:07:28,344 --> 01:07:29,802
but I said that I would do it.
1272
01:07:32,555 --> 01:07:34,598
So then I got a phone call
from Thierry,
1273
01:07:34,724 --> 01:07:37,810
or Mr. Brainwash,
as he was now calling himself,
1274
01:07:37,936 --> 01:07:41,897
asking if I would give him
a quote to promote his show.
1275
01:07:42,023 --> 01:07:44,107
And I didn't think
there was any harm in it,
1276
01:07:44,234 --> 01:07:48,403
so I wrote him a sentence,
and I emailed it off.
1277
01:07:50,907 --> 01:07:53,074
But Banksy
could never have guessed
1278
01:07:53,200 --> 01:07:55,952
what Thierry had in mind
for his modest contribution.
1279
01:08:06,421 --> 01:08:08,005
So this is gonna be
like a jail.
1280
01:08:08,131 --> 01:08:10,466
It's gonna have bars here.
1281
01:08:10,592 --> 01:08:12,218
I'm gonna put
some more cans all the way...
1282
01:08:12,344 --> 01:08:13,677
The endorsements
1283
01:08:13,803 --> 01:08:16,429
were immediately picked up
by the media,
1284
01:08:16,556 --> 01:08:19,432
and within days,
Thierry was being interviewed
1285
01:08:19,559 --> 01:08:22,227
by the editor of the city's
biggest listings magazine,
1286
01:08:22,353 --> 01:08:24,145
L.A. Weekly.
1287
01:08:24,272 --> 01:08:25,939
The only thing
I want to do in L.A.
1288
01:08:26,065 --> 01:08:30,277
is to show that Los Angeles
can have great shows.
1289
01:08:30,403 --> 01:08:33,822
You know, it's like
a revolution kind of way.
1290
01:08:33,948 --> 01:08:37,491
A few days later,
Los Angeles awoke
1291
01:08:37,617 --> 01:08:41,662
to discover there was
a new star in town.
1292
01:08:41,788 --> 01:08:45,332
MBW was front-page news.
1293
01:08:45,458 --> 01:08:47,751
- Okay.
- "Life is Beautiful."
1294
01:08:47,878 --> 01:08:50,254
The L.A. Weekly
also reported
1295
01:08:50,380 --> 01:08:52,673
Thierry's
promotional brain wave:
1296
01:08:52,799 --> 01:08:55,050
the first 200 people
to turn up
1297
01:08:55,176 --> 01:08:59,345
would be given a free,
one-of-a-kind screen print.
1298
01:08:59,471 --> 01:09:01,806
Do you think that people
is gonna wait and wait
1299
01:09:01,932 --> 01:09:04,392
for the 200 free posters
or no?
1300
01:09:04,518 --> 01:09:07,353
So now Thierry
had to come up with a way
1301
01:09:07,479 --> 01:09:10,106
of turning
200 identical screen prints
1302
01:09:10,232 --> 01:09:16,529
into unique, collectible
MBW originals.
1303
01:09:36,174 --> 01:09:37,883
With a crew of 20 people
1304
01:09:38,009 --> 01:09:39,217
working around the clock,
1305
01:09:39,344 --> 01:09:40,718
the building was at last
1306
01:09:40,844 --> 01:09:45,222
beginning to resemble
an art gallery.
1307
01:09:45,349 --> 01:09:48,267
But the walls remained bare
1308
01:09:48,393 --> 01:09:50,603
because Thierry
still hadn't decided
1309
01:09:50,729 --> 01:09:54,899
which paintings
to frame and hang.
1310
01:09:55,025 --> 01:09:58,778
So how did you like
L.A. Weekly?
1311
01:09:58,904 --> 01:10:00,655
Following
all the press coverage,
1312
01:10:00,781 --> 01:10:03,281
private collectors
had begun to inquire
1313
01:10:03,407 --> 01:10:06,868
about snapping up
MBW pieces ahead of the opening,
1314
01:10:06,994 --> 01:10:11,373
giving Thierry his first insight
into the value of his work.
1315
01:10:11,499 --> 01:10:15,085
The Campbell's Soup
with multi-ply colors.
1316
01:10:15,211 --> 01:10:16,419
Yeah, it's very nice,
this one.
1317
01:10:16,545 --> 01:10:18,880
I would say $24,000.
1318
01:10:19,006 --> 01:10:21,883
"Scarface," is it a big one?
1319
01:10:22,009 --> 01:10:24,427
Okay, cela $30,000.
1320
01:10:24,553 --> 01:10:27,304
Prepare me
some canned olive paint.
1321
01:10:27,430 --> 01:10:28,639
Just listen to me.
1322
01:10:28,765 --> 01:10:30,182
I mean, make them work
to do something.
1323
01:10:30,308 --> 01:10:31,642
There is nothing to do there?
1324
01:10:31,768 --> 01:10:34,395
There is nothing to do?
1325
01:10:36,022 --> 01:10:38,107
It's like gold, you know?
1326
01:10:38,233 --> 01:10:41,777
'Cause you spray,
and, "How much is it?"
1327
01:10:56,709 --> 01:10:58,960
With his big day now upon him,
1328
01:10:59,086 --> 01:11:01,462
Mr. Brainwash
still had plenty to do,
1329
01:11:01,588 --> 01:11:03,464
because it was only now,
1330
01:11:03,590 --> 01:11:06,342
just eight hours
before the doors opened,
1331
01:11:06,468 --> 01:11:08,593
that Thierry's paintings
finally arrived,
1332
01:11:08,720 --> 01:11:10,303
framed and ready to hang,
1333
01:11:10,430 --> 01:11:15,058
almost 200 pieces
in a riot of themes and styles.
1334
01:11:15,184 --> 01:11:18,645
I have never seen someone
with so much goddamn art
1335
01:11:18,771 --> 01:11:21,606
in one art show
in my entire life.
1336
01:11:21,733 --> 01:11:23,984
I haven't seen group shows
with that much artwork.
1337
01:11:24,110 --> 01:11:26,445
Whatever elves Thierry
had making that stuff
1338
01:11:26,571 --> 01:11:28,280
did a good job.
1339
01:11:33,702 --> 01:11:35,995
Outside,
the first eager art fans
1340
01:11:36,121 --> 01:11:38,831
were already starting to arrive.
1341
01:11:38,957 --> 01:11:41,000
We're here to see
Mr. Brainwash, bro.
1342
01:11:41,126 --> 01:11:43,210
He's holed in L.A.
right now, bro.
1343
01:11:43,336 --> 01:11:45,087
He's up on every corner.
1344
01:11:45,213 --> 01:11:46,380
Come on, guys!
1345
01:11:46,506 --> 01:11:48,132
Let's make the show go on!
1346
01:11:49,551 --> 01:11:50,718
Fuck!
1347
01:11:50,844 --> 01:11:52,011
But inside,
1348
01:11:52,137 --> 01:11:54,345
the pressure
was starting to show.
1349
01:11:54,472 --> 01:11:56,347
Okay, okay,
there is one thing,
1350
01:11:56,474 --> 01:11:57,849
one thing, one thing.
1351
01:11:57,975 --> 01:12:00,185
We're gonna have a meeting.
One thing.
1352
01:12:00,311 --> 01:12:02,771
Starting with...
starting now, this second,
1353
01:12:02,897 --> 01:12:04,355
I'm running the show.
1354
01:12:04,482 --> 01:12:07,525
You're not giving order
to anybody right now.
1355
01:12:07,651 --> 01:12:08,860
I'm running the show.
1356
01:12:08,986 --> 01:12:10,487
You listen to me.
1357
01:12:10,613 --> 01:12:12,280
Okay?
1358
01:12:12,406 --> 01:12:14,406
Anybody's listening to me now.
1359
01:12:14,532 --> 01:12:16,075
Okay?
Okay?
1360
01:12:16,201 --> 01:12:17,785
So now you follow me.
1361
01:12:17,911 --> 01:12:21,121
You're coming with me.
1362
01:12:21,247 --> 01:12:27,169
This oil painting,
do you know where is the two...
1363
01:12:27,295 --> 01:12:28,712
the two-tone metal spray
over there?
1364
01:12:28,838 --> 01:12:30,047
- Yes.
- Yeah.
1365
01:12:30,173 --> 01:12:32,549
You take off the two.
You hang down.
1366
01:12:32,675 --> 01:12:34,718
The right.
Right.
1367
01:12:34,844 --> 01:12:36,302
- Right. This wall.
- This wall?
1368
01:12:36,428 --> 01:12:37,595
This wall.
1369
01:12:37,721 --> 01:12:38,888
Okay, you show me,
1370
01:12:39,014 --> 01:12:40,181
and I'll tell you a pile...
1371
01:12:40,307 --> 01:12:41,849
a pile good
or a pile not good.
1372
01:12:41,975 --> 01:12:43,267
You too.
1373
01:12:43,393 --> 01:12:45,978
This one, good.
1374
01:12:46,105 --> 01:12:47,980
This one, I'm not sure.
1375
01:12:49,441 --> 01:12:50,691
This one, good.
1376
01:12:53,821 --> 01:12:55,196
By mid-afternoon,
1377
01:12:55,322 --> 01:12:57,990
a crowd of almost 2,000 people
had amassed
1378
01:12:58,117 --> 01:13:00,408
for what was now
widely tipped to be
1379
01:13:00,535 --> 01:13:04,746
the hottest art event
of the year.
1380
01:13:04,872 --> 01:13:06,414
How'd you guys find out
about this event?
1381
01:13:06,541 --> 01:13:07,874
L.A. Weekly.
1382
01:13:08,000 --> 01:13:09,501
Do you guys think
you still have a shot
1383
01:13:09,627 --> 01:13:10,836
at getting a print?
1384
01:13:10,962 --> 01:13:12,254
Yes.
1385
01:13:12,380 --> 01:13:13,588
I'm expecting to see a mixture
1386
01:13:13,714 --> 01:13:15,006
of street art and pop art
together.
1387
01:13:15,133 --> 01:13:16,299
Really interesting stuff.
1388
01:13:16,425 --> 01:13:18,009
Very modern.
1389
01:13:18,136 --> 01:13:20,553
No one's really done it
the way he's done it.
1390
01:13:20,679 --> 01:13:22,429
You know, it's one
of those kind of things, man.
1391
01:13:22,556 --> 01:13:23,764
I'm not quite sure
what I'm in for,
1392
01:13:23,890 --> 01:13:25,266
but I'm excited about it.
1393
01:13:31,565 --> 01:13:34,900
But Thierry
was still finding distractions
1394
01:13:35,026 --> 01:13:36,861
from the task in hand.
1395
01:13:36,987 --> 01:13:38,445
Who are you,
and what do you do?
1396
01:13:38,572 --> 01:13:41,532
I'm Mr. Brainwash.
1397
01:13:41,658 --> 01:13:42,824
I was a filmmaker.
1398
01:13:42,950 --> 01:13:46,995
I mean, I am still a filmmaker,
and...
1399
01:13:47,121 --> 01:13:49,956
and I start filming,
I felt,
1400
01:13:50,082 --> 01:13:51,916
like, because I love art.
1401
01:14:00,176 --> 01:14:01,801
Sometimes in life,
you have to go... to go...
1402
01:14:01,927 --> 01:14:03,094
- I'm so sorry.
- That's okay.
1403
01:14:03,220 --> 01:14:04,469
Wait.
1404
01:14:04,596 --> 01:14:05,804
No, you've got to come
right now.
1405
01:14:05,930 --> 01:14:07,264
Or things will turn bad.
1406
01:14:07,390 --> 01:14:08,974
You have to make some decisions.
1407
01:14:09,100 --> 01:14:10,934
The whole big room is empty.
1408
01:14:11,060 --> 01:14:13,812
Okay, can they unroll
all the canvas?
1409
01:14:13,938 --> 01:14:16,023
I've done it.
1410
01:14:16,149 --> 01:14:17,941
Now it's those other big walls
opposite...
1411
01:14:18,067 --> 01:14:20,027
Okay, I need you
to just to take oil painting
1412
01:14:20,153 --> 01:14:21,361
and put them in the small room.
1413
01:14:21,487 --> 01:14:22,654
Yes, but I've done it.
1414
01:14:22,780 --> 01:14:24,323
Put them in any order
in the room.
1415
01:14:24,449 --> 01:14:26,282
That's done.
It's the other big space.
1416
01:14:26,408 --> 01:14:28,117
Just put them all like that.
1417
01:14:28,243 --> 01:14:29,535
And I'll come and decide.
1418
01:14:29,661 --> 01:14:32,663
- In the big space?
- Put them all out.
1419
01:14:32,789 --> 01:14:36,209
And get the canvases rolled out
flat, and I'll come in a bit.
1420
01:14:36,335 --> 01:14:37,793
Okay.
1421
01:14:37,920 --> 01:14:39,962
It's okay.
I can do another three minutes.
1422
01:14:40,088 --> 01:14:41,589
It's okay.
1423
01:14:41,715 --> 01:14:44,800
Eventually,
with only three hours left
1424
01:14:44,927 --> 01:14:46,093
to get everything ready,
1425
01:14:46,220 --> 01:14:47,762
the crew started
1426
01:14:47,887 --> 01:14:50,764
putting the paintings
up on the walls themselves.
1427
01:14:50,890 --> 01:14:53,141
I brought in three
of my staff members
1428
01:14:53,267 --> 01:14:55,518
that have been here
since 3:30 or4:00 working,
1429
01:14:55,645 --> 01:14:58,313
hanging stuff,
moving stuff, carrying stuff,
1430
01:14:58,439 --> 01:15:01,066
you know, working just as hard
as the guys Thierry brought in,
1431
01:15:01,192 --> 01:15:03,860
realizing that, frankly,
he's just kind of retarded.
1432
01:15:03,986 --> 01:15:05,570
Almost certain
1433
01:15:05,696 --> 01:15:09,032
this is probably my last
MBW show I'll be working.
1434
01:15:11,910 --> 01:15:13,577
Finally, the doors opened
1435
01:15:13,703 --> 01:15:16,205
to a public eager
to feast their eyes
1436
01:15:16,331 --> 01:15:20,292
on the grand debut
of Mr. Brainwash.
1437
01:15:36,517 --> 01:15:38,559
What do you think
of the "American Gothic"?
1438
01:15:38,686 --> 01:15:40,561
It's gothic.
1439
01:15:44,984 --> 01:15:46,150
It's a triumph.
1440
01:15:46,277 --> 01:15:48,236
It will go down in history.
1441
01:15:48,362 --> 01:15:50,071
I'm glad my friends
turned me on to this.
1442
01:15:50,197 --> 01:15:52,448
There should be more stuff
like this in Los Angeles.
1443
01:15:52,574 --> 01:15:53,907
They say that art is dead,
1444
01:15:54,033 --> 01:15:55,617
but, sweetie,
it's all around us.
1445
01:15:55,743 --> 01:15:57,244
Great.
Bravo.
1446
01:15:57,370 --> 01:15:59,246
It looks like
it's sort of a one-trick pony,
1447
01:15:59,372 --> 01:16:01,748
but I think if you look at it
particularly
1448
01:16:01,874 --> 01:16:03,625
in context
as an entire body of work,
1449
01:16:03,751 --> 01:16:05,627
I think it's exploring
1450
01:16:05,753 --> 01:16:10,090
some interesting notions
around celebrity.
1451
01:16:10,216 --> 01:16:11,883
I never met the cat
till tonight,
1452
01:16:12,010 --> 01:16:14,261
but this fool's
down for this, dog.
1453
01:16:18,890 --> 01:16:22,685
With over4,000 people
flowing through the venue,
1454
01:16:22,811 --> 01:16:24,770
Thierry's entrée
into the art world
1455
01:16:24,896 --> 01:16:27,398
was nothing less
than a sensation.
1456
01:16:27,524 --> 01:16:29,025
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
1457
01:16:29,151 --> 01:16:30,776
Fantastic.
1458
01:16:30,902 --> 01:16:32,445
- Right on.
- Yes.
1459
01:16:32,571 --> 01:16:35,406
L.A.'s art fans
watched, spellbound,
1460
01:16:35,532 --> 01:16:38,450
as a major new star
was born before their very eyes.
1461
01:16:46,167 --> 01:16:47,459
So desperate were they
1462
01:16:47,585 --> 01:16:49,294
not to miss out
on this cultural phenomenon,
1463
01:16:49,420 --> 01:16:50,962
those left outside
1464
01:16:51,088 --> 01:16:54,591
felt compelled
to break through the gates.
1465
01:17:03,767 --> 01:17:05,100
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
1466
01:17:05,226 --> 01:17:06,977
It's beautiful.
Keep on doing it.
1467
01:17:07,103 --> 01:17:11,106
Most artists spend years
perfecting their craft,
1468
01:17:11,232 --> 01:17:13,067
finding their style,
1469
01:17:13,193 --> 01:17:15,652
and Thierry seemed to miss out
on all those bits.
1470
01:17:15,779 --> 01:17:19,490
I mean, there's no one
quite like Thierry, really,
1471
01:17:19,616 --> 01:17:23,951
even if his art does look quite
a lot like everyone else's.
1472
01:17:27,498 --> 01:17:29,665
I see this particular one
1473
01:17:29,792 --> 01:17:33,169
reoccurring
in so many different mediums.
1474
01:17:33,295 --> 01:17:35,671
Why does that one reoccur
so many times?
1475
01:17:35,798 --> 01:17:39,509
Because I think it's
part of the popular culture.
1476
01:17:39,635 --> 01:17:44,262
Andy Warhol passed away,
and I'm here.
1477
01:17:46,808 --> 01:17:49,893
Can you guys form a straight
line to the right, please?
1478
01:17:50,019 --> 01:17:51,520
But the ultimate validation
1479
01:17:51,646 --> 01:17:53,438
was measured
in dollars and cents.
1480
01:17:53,564 --> 01:17:55,816
By the end of his opening week,
1481
01:17:55,942 --> 01:18:01,446
Thierry would sell nearly
$1 million worth of art.
1482
01:18:01,572 --> 01:18:03,990
Mr. Brainwash had arrived.
1483
01:18:04,117 --> 01:18:05,491
One, two, three.
1484
01:18:05,617 --> 01:18:08,536
- Whoo-hoo.
- Yeah.
1485
01:18:08,662 --> 01:18:12,873
It was beyond my expectation,
like they say.
1486
01:18:12,999 --> 01:18:16,335
I would never have thought
that it would be so many people.
1487
01:18:16,461 --> 01:18:18,379
And it's not
that it was so many people;
1488
01:18:18,505 --> 01:18:20,714
they were so happy.
1489
01:18:20,841 --> 01:18:24,260
They were so pleased
with what they see.
1490
01:18:24,386 --> 01:18:26,345
They were so... you know?
1491
01:18:26,471 --> 01:18:27,846
They were so touched.
1492
01:18:27,972 --> 01:18:29,556
Like, they caught me as Banksy.
1493
01:18:29,682 --> 01:18:33,101
Like, they said that I'm
as good as that, you know?
1494
01:18:33,227 --> 01:18:35,895
So I love it, you know?
1495
01:18:36,021 --> 01:18:39,566
Somewhere it's great,
but from the people,
1496
01:18:39,692 --> 01:18:43,403
I think I got accepted,
you know?
1497
01:18:43,529 --> 01:18:46,531
It comes to a point
that I got accepted.
1498
01:18:49,284 --> 01:18:52,578
Originally booked
to run for just five days,
1499
01:18:52,704 --> 01:18:55,914
"Life is Beautiful" stayed open
for a further two months,
1500
01:18:56,040 --> 01:18:59,793
and as word about MBW spread,
1501
01:18:59,919 --> 01:19:04,381
his pieces appeared in galleries
and shows around the world,
1502
01:19:04,507 --> 01:19:06,091
from Miami and New York
1503
01:19:06,217 --> 01:19:09,678
to London, Paris,
and even Beijing.
1504
01:19:09,804 --> 01:19:14,098
He's kind of the rightful heir
to Andy Warhol, in a way.
1505
01:19:14,224 --> 01:19:17,602
Andy Warhol made a statement
by repeating famous icons
1506
01:19:17,728 --> 01:19:19,353
until they became meaningless,
1507
01:19:19,480 --> 01:19:22,482
but he was extremely iconic
in the way that he did it.
1508
01:19:22,608 --> 01:19:26,360
But then Thierry really
made them meaningless.
1509
01:19:26,487 --> 01:19:29,780
How do I feel about being
partially responsible
1510
01:19:29,907 --> 01:19:31,532
for creating Mr. Brainwash?
1511
01:19:31,658 --> 01:19:36,536
I feel like, um...
1512
01:19:36,662 --> 01:19:38,538
I had the best intentions.
1513
01:19:38,664 --> 01:19:42,709
I think even when
you have the best intentions,
1514
01:19:42,835 --> 01:19:44,503
sometimes things can go awry.
1515
01:19:44,629 --> 01:19:48,089
To put a huge body of work
together
1516
01:19:48,216 --> 01:19:50,383
and sort of try to,
you know, come out
1517
01:19:50,510 --> 01:19:54,929
as if he is a fully formed
artist ready for the world stage
1518
01:19:55,055 --> 01:19:57,723
I think was a little premature.
1519
01:20:10,862 --> 01:20:12,321
I feel good.
1520
01:20:12,447 --> 01:20:17,575
I feel good as an artist
to have a reputation now.
1521
01:20:17,701 --> 01:20:23,206
You know, an artist is not a guy
that you see in one show
1522
01:20:23,332 --> 01:20:25,500
and you can decide who it is
1523
01:20:25,626 --> 01:20:27,669
or if he copies Banksy
1524
01:20:27,795 --> 01:20:30,922
or if he copies Shepard Fairey,
1525
01:20:31,048 --> 01:20:32,215
if he copies...
1526
01:20:32,341 --> 01:20:33,550
it's about time.
1527
01:20:33,676 --> 01:20:36,844
You'll see in time
who I will be,
1528
01:20:36,971 --> 01:20:41,265
because with time,
you'll see my creativity.
1529
01:20:41,391 --> 01:20:46,853
You'll see
if I'm a real artist or not.
1530
01:20:46,980 --> 01:20:49,982
I do think
that the whole phenomenon
1531
01:20:50,108 --> 01:20:54,945
of Thierry's obsession
with street art,
1532
01:20:55,071 --> 01:20:56,488
becoming a street artist,
1533
01:20:56,614 --> 01:20:58,532
a lot of suckers
buying into his show
1534
01:20:58,658 --> 01:21:02,493
and him selling a lot
of expensive art very quickly,
1535
01:21:02,619 --> 01:21:05,913
it's... anthropologically,
sociologically,
1536
01:21:06,039 --> 01:21:08,207
it's a fascinating thing
to observe,
1537
01:21:08,333 --> 01:21:12,503
and maybe there's some things
to be learned from it.
1538
01:21:16,049 --> 01:21:17,717
I don't know what it means,
1539
01:21:17,843 --> 01:21:20,678
Thierry's huge success
and arrival in the art world.
1540
01:21:20,804 --> 01:21:23,805
I mean, maybe Thierry
was a genius all along.
1541
01:21:23,931 --> 01:21:27,183
Maybe he got a bit lucky.
1542
01:21:27,310 --> 01:21:31,730
Maybe it means art
is a bit of a joke.
1543
01:21:31,856 --> 01:21:33,690
If Thierry can pull it off,
then amazing,
1544
01:21:33,816 --> 01:21:37,736
but, you know, it's kind of...
I think...
1545
01:21:37,862 --> 01:21:39,863
I think the joke is on...
1546
01:21:39,989 --> 01:21:42,324
I don't know
who the joke's on, really.
1547
01:21:42,450 --> 01:21:44,242
I don't even know
if there is a joke.
1548
01:21:56,212 --> 01:21:58,130
I don't think Thierry
played by the rules,
1549
01:21:58,256 --> 01:21:59,882
in some ways,
1550
01:22:00,008 --> 01:22:01,967
but then, there aren't
supposed to be any rules,
1551
01:22:02,093 --> 01:22:04,470
so I don't really know
what the moral is.
1552
01:22:04,596 --> 01:22:07,263
I mean, I always used to
encourage everyone I met
1553
01:22:07,389 --> 01:22:08,640
to make art.
1554
01:22:08,766 --> 01:22:10,725
I used to think
everyone should do it.
1555
01:22:14,605 --> 01:22:16,689
I don't really do that
so much anymore.
1556
01:22:27,368 --> 01:22:30,702
Some people, you know,
might think that I'm a rabbit
1557
01:22:30,828 --> 01:22:33,121
because I'm running around,
1558
01:22:33,247 --> 01:22:34,790
and they think
that I'm not organized.
1559
01:22:34,916 --> 01:22:39,294
But I said,
"Wait till the end of life,
1560
01:22:39,420 --> 01:22:44,383
and you'll see if I'm a rabbit
or a turtle."

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