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The saga of the legendary Studio 54 in a new documentary
The hedonistic epicentre of New York night life, Studio 54 was a playground for celebrities with its glamourous soirees imbued with sex and drugs. Matt Tyrnauer’s latest documentary looks back at the rise of this mythical venue from the 1970s to its closure in 1986.
By Antoine Ruiz.
Part of a revolutionary and avant-garde movement in the chic world of nocturnal festivities, Studio 54 opened its doors at the end of 1974, at 254 West 54th Street in the middle of Manhattan. Its two founders Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, had just completed their last month behind bars for tax evasion. And that was when the madness began. The biggest icons of pop culture and fashion rushed to this theme park for adults: Andy Warhol, Grace Jones, Elton John, Nile Rodgers, Calvin Klein, David Bowie, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson, Yves Saint Laurent…
With glamour, sex and drugs in every form, this temple of excess brought together the LGBT community, models, artists and celebrities from all walks of life. Slap bang in the middle of the disco era, the club with its Gatsby-esque opulence let anyone in… if they were gorgeous enough. At the door, queues snaked around the block for hundreds of meters right up until 1986 when the club finally closed after twelve electrifying years. Police raids found a basement full of bags bursting with drugs and cash.
Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary simply titled Studio 54, follows the delirious and thrilling rise of New York’s most legendary nightclub. Through previously unseen archive images, the film depicts those who established the reputation of a club whose success was almost as famous as its downfall.
While Matt Tyrnaurer’s documentary Studio 54 will be released in America on June 15th, no date has been given yet for its release in France.
