Television series
The Andy Warhol Diaries
A five-part documentary series built from Andy Warhol's own voice reading his personal diaries, revealing the anxieties, desires and contradictions behind the most famous artist of the twentieth century. It's intimate and strange, funny and melancholy—less about Pop Art than about loneliness, ambition, and the gap between the public face and the private self. Essential for anyone who thought they knew Warhol.
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Exit Through the Gift Shop2010
Banksy's documentary about street art's unlikely celebrity, blending documentary and hoax in ways that mirror Warhol's own games with authenticity and persona. Visually dazzling and philosophically playful.
But It's deliberately unclear what's real, which some find clever and others find exhausting. The art world smugness can grate.
Abstract: The Art of Design2017
Netflix series exploring how great designers think. Episodes on typography, product design, and illustration reveal the obsessive, meticulous minds behind work that looks effortless. Each roughly the same length as Warhol episodes.
But Some episodes are stronger than others. If you want chaos and personality over process, this is too orderly.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi2011
Documentary about an eighty-five-year-old sushi master's absolute commitment to his art. Like Warhol, it's about obsession as a form of love, and the space between who you are and what you make.
But It's very slow and very earnest. If you want dynamism and irony, this will feel repetitive.
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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Venom2018
Both are about fame, surfaces, and the persona you project—but also about vulnerability and need hiding behind the gloss. Warhol would recognize the contradiction.
A superhero film where Tom Hardy's journalist and a parasitic alien form an oddly tender relationship. Like Warhol's work, it's glossy surface that hides genuine weirdness and unexpected emotion underneath.
But It's ridiculous. The plot is thin and the tone is genuinely confused. Many found it more camp than the filmmakers intended.
More like this (6)
The Toys That Made Us2017
Netflix's affectionate deep dives into consumer culture—Barbie, Hello Kitty, Frozen. Warhol would have loved this series about how objects become mythology. Warm and smart.
But Episodes vary wildly in quality. Some feel like extended commercials for the brands they're nominally critiquing.
Helvetica2007
A feature-length documentary about a typeface. It sounds ridiculous until you watch it—then you understand how design shapes consciousness itself. Warhol would recognize the obsession.
But It's literally about a font. If you need plot or drama, this will feel like watching paint dry. Except it's about typefaces.
Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang2017
Zhang Jialing's documentary about a Chinese artist's ambitions, failures, and need to create something that will outlast him. Shares Warhol's drive to merge art and spectacle, high and low.
But Slower-paced than you might expect. Less about the finished work, more about the internal struggle.
Marwencol2010
Documentary about an artist who photographs miniature figures in an elaborate dollhouse world to process trauma. It's about obsession, fantasy, and what art is really for—deeply Warhol-adjacent.
But It's deeply strange and potentially unsettling. The subject matter (recovering from a brutal assault) is heavy, and the work itself can feel eerie.
In the Mood for Love2000
Both use repetition and visual excess as emotional language. Warhol's silk screens and this film's colour palette are doing the same work—making you feel something through sheer aesthetic intensity.
Wong Kar-wai's achingly beautiful film about two neighbours who fall in love without quite touching. Every frame is a painting—colour, symmetry, and repetition used not to make meaning but to create pure feeling.
But There's almost no plot. If you need story momentum or want to understand what happens, you'll be frustrated. It's deliberately repetitive.
The King of Comedy1982
Like Warhol's diaries, it's about the gap between the person and the persona they desperately want to be. Fame hunger as a kind of illness. Warhol got famous; this film is about what happens if you don't—the same appetite, starved.
Scorsese's film about an obsessive wannabe comedian who stalks a late-night TV host. It's a portrait of fame-hunger, delusion, and the desperate hunger to be seen. Horribly funny and genuinely disturbing.
But It's relentlessly bleak and Robert De Niro's character is nearly unwatchable—cringe and pathetic in ways the film doesn't soften. Some find it punishing.
People
Production
- Ryan MurphyExecutive Producer