STUDIO 54
Scintillating and deeply informative, this fascinating doc provides the definitive account of the meteoric rise and infamous fall from grace of New York City’s most legendary nightlife hotspot.
Director Matt Tyrnauer draws on a wealth of archival footage, recollections from key players, and a soundtrack of dancefloor classics to create a thrilling snapshot of disco’s heyday, when throngs of hopefuls clamored to gain access to the inner sanctum of New York’s hottest nightclub. While A-list regulars like Andy Warhol, Diana Ross, and Liza Minnelli grabbed most of the headlines, the true stars of the Studio 54 saga are college buddies-turned-nightlife impresarios Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, whose zeitgeist-grabbing savvy and thirst for the spotlight made the club tick. Seemingly overnight, Studio 54 became the epicenter of late-70s disco hedonism, synonymous with sexual adventurousness, rampant drug use, and a notoriously stringent door policy that favored the beautiful, the famous, and the weird. But more than just a parade of famous faces titillating gossip, Tyrnauer’s documentary is a cautionary tale of outsized ambition and folly, capturing Schrager and Rubell’s downfall as they became embroiled in a very public scandal in which everyone from the mobsters to members of the Carter White House seemed to play a part.
CAST: Ian Schrager
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