Studio 54
For 33 months, from 1977 to 1980, the nightclub Studio 54 was the place to be seen in Manhattan. A haven of hedonism, tolerance, glitz and glamor, Studio was very hard to gain entrance to and impossible to ignore, with news of who was there filling the gossip columns daily. Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, two college friends from Brooklyn, succeeded in creating the ultimate escapist fantasy in the heart of the theater district. Rubell was the bon vivant who wanted to be everybody’s friend and was photographed with every celebrity du jour who entered the club and Schrager was the behind-the-scenes creative mastermind who shunned the limelight. Studio 54 was an instant success and a cash cow, but the drug-and-sex-fueled dream soon imploded in financial scandal and the club’s demise. With unprecedented access to Schrager, who tells the whole unvarnished story for the first time, and a treasure-trove of rare footage, director Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood) constructs a vivid, glorious portrait of a disco-era phenomenon, and tells the story of two friends who stuck together through an incredible series of highs and lows.
STUDIO 54 opened in New York on October 5, 2018, and in Los Angeles on October 12.
STUDIO 54 is a Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber. To book this film please contact Nancy Gerstman or Emily Russo or call 212-274-1989.
For trailers and photos and other promotional material please visit our DropBox.
Matt Tyrnauer
Matt Tyrnauer is a writer, director, producer, and award-winning journalist whose recent films include Valentino: The Last Emperor, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was short-listed for an Academy Award for best documentary feature; Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, about the secret history of sex in Hollywood in the pre-Stonewall era; Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival; and Jean Nouvel: Reflections, which premiered at the 2016 New York Film Festival.
Tyrnauer is also an award-winning journalist, who has written for Vanity Fair, where he has been editor-at-large, special correspondent and is now a contributing editor. His work has also appeared in other publications including GQ, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, L'Uomo Vogue, and Numero.
Tyrnauer’s upcoming projects include the HBO dramatic adaptation of his eponymous Vanity Fair article “Once Upon a Time in Beverly Hills”; Don’t Mess with Roy Cohn, about the Svengali behind Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump; and a docuseries on architecturally and culturally significant homes and their surrounding communities for Apple.
Tyrnauer is a native of Los Angeles.
A&E Indie Films Presents
An Altimeter Films and Passion Pictures Production
Produced and Directed by Matt Tyrnauer
Produced by John Battsek, p.g.a.
Produced by Corey Reeser, p.g.a.
Executive Producers
Molly Thompson
Robert Sharenow
Elaine Frontain Bryant
Andrew Ruhemann
Editor/Co-Producer Andrea Lewis
Co-Editors
Morgan Hanner
Jason Hardwick
Co-Producers
Noreen O’Toole
Troy Benjamin
Graham High
Associate Producer Alison Schnapp
Director of Photography Tom Hurwitz, ASC
Music Supervisor Liz Gallacher
Original Score by Lorne Balfe
“Thrilling and definitive. Studio 54 was like a slice of ancient Rome on 54th St., so bedazzled by its delirium that it now looks almost innocent.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“Captures the comet-like excitement of the disco run by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager for under three years in the late 1970s.” – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter
“A glorious picture of a kind of hedonism and egalitarianism we may never see again.” – Les Fabian Brathwaite, OUT Magazine
“Nuanced and compelling.” – Mark Yarm, WSJ Magazine
“A treasure trove of archival videos and a dynamite soundtrack.” – Les Fabian Brathwaite, OUT Magazine
“Ace documentarian Matt Tyrnauer...understands and conveys exactly why the club connected, at that particular moment – how it was fueled by the ying/yang, introvert/extrovert dynamic of its co-owners, and how its potent dance floor cocktail of personalities, classes, and sexualities offered up to its patrons escapism, inclusion, acceptance, and access. A bewitching story, briskly and wittily told. ” – Jason Bailey, Flavorwire
