British director Julien Temple’s new documentary I Am Curious Johnny, about industrial heir, photographer, art collector and philanthropist Johnny Pigozzi, will have its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival on Friday, ahead of its release on HBO Max on November 3.
The trailer for “I Am Curious Johnny,” which Variety can exclusively reveal below, follows Johnny, a French-born Italian heiress and CEO of the Simca car brand who now lives in Los Angeles. According to the film’s synopsis, Pigozzi “invented the selfie” in the ’70s, long before social media, capturing celebrity moments from Studio 54 in New York to the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills.
This entertaining doc features loving tributes from some of the luminaries the ever-elusive Pigozzi has befriended over the past 50 years, including Michael Douglas, Martha Stewart, Mick Jagger, Diane von Furstenberg and Graydon Carter. Incidentally, Pigozzi has one of the world’s top collections of contemporary African art.
In a director’s statement, Temple described Pigozzi as “an enigmatic figure, not unlike a modern-day Mr. Arkadin,” referring to the elusive billionaire from the Orson Welles film of the same name. “Johnny has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of his extremely wealthy but ruthless and distant father, and has always sought to define who he is through relentless creativity.”
“For more than 50 years, he has made it an art to take selfies with his friends – some of the richest and most famous Hollywood stars, rock stars, socialites, media billionaires and tech bros on the planet. People like Zelig, Johnny Everyone knows who he is, but in the wider public context, no one knew who he was until now. This is a film about wealth and its effects on those who own it, but also about what to believe and what not to believe.” A humorous exploration of what we believe about humans, the potential pitfalls of AI, and its ability to hallucinate alternative versions of the truth. ”
Once the Enfant Terrible of the punk scene, Temple began his career filming the Sex Pistols, which he turned into the feature films The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury. His recent works include “The Eternity Man,” “Oil City Confidential,” about the British band Dr. Feelgood, “Requiem for Detroit,” and the documentary about London, “The Modern Babylon.”
‘I Am Curious Johnny’ was produced by London-based Jeremy Thomas through his Record Picture Company, Temple through his company Nitrate Film, and PJ Van Sandwijk for Storyteller Productions.
Watch the trailer below.
