Brooklyn’s Paul Bettany explores being art star Andy Warhol on Broadway
Bettany has lived in both Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights
Paul Bettany has long been an admirer of art superstar Andy Warhol, from a distance, like an art lover wandering a favorite gallery. But when he was initially offered a chance to get much closer and play his hero on stage, he declined.
“I don’t know how you get underneath the wig and the glasses and the carefully curated public persona. I don’t know how to do it,” Bettany recalled thinking. “I think there might be a reason that Andy is always a cameo in films.”
Persistence on the part of a producer and reading Warhol’s diaries convinced Bettany — who has lived in Park Slope and more recently Brooklyn Heights — that he might at least try. Now he finds himself on Broadway eight times a week underneath a wig, wearing glasses and making the very art onstage that he long admired.