NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Martin Scorsese was knee-deep in preparation for 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon鈥 when Mara Hennessey reached out to invite him to see David Johansen. The former frontman for the trailblazing 1970s proto-punk band the New York Dolls 鈥 and Hennessey鈥檚 husband 鈥 was performing a new show at the Caf茅 Carlyle.
Scorsese, a longtime fan of Johansen (he had once played the Dolls to rile up his actors for a fight scene), went eagerly with a handful of others, including his frequent documentary collaborator David Tedeschi. There, they saw Johansen perform a lounge act of grit and grace.
Here was a downtown fixture relocated to one of uptown鈥檚 swankiest rooms. As his pompadoured alter ego, Buster Poindexter, Johansen was performing stripped-down versions of his own songs and Dolls hits, with plenty of reflective, comic interludes. Scorsese, smitten by Johansen鈥檚 performance, immediately resolved to shoot it 鈥 the still ringing echo of a vanished New York.
鈥淚t was just a natural feel: We have to do this,鈥 Scorsese explained in an interview. 鈥淲e have to capture it before it goes.鈥
鈥淧ersonality Crisis: One Night Only,鈥 which debuts Friday on Showtime, is the result, mixing footage Scorsese and co-director David Tedeschi shot over two nights at the Carlyle in January 2020 with flashbacks through Johansen鈥檚 wildly varied career and intimate interviews taped during the pandemic by Johansen and Hennessey鈥檚 daughter, Leah.
Like Scorsese鈥檚 recent Netflix series 鈥淧retend It鈥檚 a City鈥 with Fran Lebowitz, it鈥檚 also a portrait of a still clarion, still vibrant New York voice in a city that now hardly resembles the one they were all forged in.
鈥淭he environment that he came out of in the 鈥70s, in a way, I鈥檓 still there,鈥 says Scorsese, whose third feature film, 鈥淢ean Streets,鈥 debuted the same year as the Dolls鈥 first album. 鈥淚t has to do with New York because we live in New York. I鈥檓 not doing L.A. I鈥檓 not doing Chicago. I live in New York. And this is a part of where I came from. It turns out that it鈥檚 changed, it鈥檚 finished, it鈥檚 gone, it鈥檚 going somewhere else.鈥
Time is much on the mind of Scorsese, 80, who in a month will debut at Cannes 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon,鈥 his sprawling adaptation of David Grann鈥檚 bestseller about a series of murders of members of the Osage tribe in 1920s Oklahoma. The scope of the Apple release 鈥 with a budget of $200 million and a reported runtime of nearly four hours 鈥 makes it, like 鈥淭he Irishman,鈥 one of Scorsese鈥檚 biggest undertakings
鈥淧ersonality Crisis,鈥 sandwiched between two monumental masterworks, a stirringly intimate contrast.
鈥淚 was surprised by how much I liked it,鈥 says Johansen. 鈥淚 hardly cringed.鈥
The Staten Island-born Johansen, now 73, was a pivotal figure of 鈥70s East Village New York and the New York Dolls presaged the punk movement. Since then, he鈥檚 reinvented himself as the lounge-singing Buster Poindexter, who had the 1980s hit 鈥淗ot Hot Hot鈥 (a song that Johansen now more or less disowns). He鈥檚 acted, too. Many will remember Johansen as the taxi-driving ghost of Christmas past in 鈥淪crooged.鈥
Part of the joy of 鈥淧ersonality Crisis鈥 is that it takes Johansen 鈥 so often associated with particular eras of rock 鈥 out of those contexts. Here, he鈥檚 simply a gravel-voiced lounge lizard supreme 鈥 a rock 鈥榥鈥 roll survivor with the anecdotes to go with it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a rock doc,鈥 says Hennessey. 鈥淭o me, it鈥檚 a portrait of an artist.鈥
Almost since the beginning, Scorsese has toggled between narrative features and documentaries, though he and Tedeschi don鈥檛 love the term 鈥渄ocumentary.鈥 (鈥淲e鈥檇 rather have fun,鈥 says Tedeschi.) Each are simply films, Scorsese says, with different rhythms, choreographies and grammar. And they inform each other, a back-and-forth alchemy that began with 1974鈥檚 鈥淚talian American,鈥 a dialogue with his parents released in between 鈥淢ean Streets鈥 and 鈥淎lice Doesn鈥檛 Live Here Anymore.鈥
鈥淭hese films that David and I do free me to think differently about the narrative films I鈥檓 making. The narrative films I鈥檓 making are becoming more like novels. These are not quite,鈥 says Scorsese. 鈥淪ometimes you get locked in by what鈥檚 around you and the way things are supposed to be done. 鈥業talian American,鈥 I just hold the camera on my mother and my father speaking and it was interesting. It changed everything for me.鈥
鈥淧ersonality Crisis鈥 likewise influenced 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon.鈥 Several songs Scorsese heard while listening to Johansen鈥檚 wide-ranging satellite radio show 鈥淢ansion of Fun鈥 made it into the movie, including Mamie Smith鈥檚 鈥淐razy Blues.鈥 Charlie Musselwhite plays harmonica alongside Johansen in 鈥淧ersonality Crisis鈥; he also, by coincidence, is an actor in 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon.鈥
鈥淭hey just seem to come together,鈥 says Scorsese of his nonfiction and fiction films.
