Matt Tyrnauer’s New Documentary, Studio 54, Takes On the Rise, Fall, and Last Days of Disco.

In 1998, the director Mark Christopher released 54, a fictionalized film about the late, great 1970s New York City disco Studio 54. And now a documentary, Matt Tyrnauer’s savvy, stylish Studio 54, is here to correct the record.

Tyrnauer’s Perspective:

  • Tyrnauer focuses less on the frothy glamour of Studio and more about how it fell apart.
  • A-lists like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards got in for free but Rolling Stones had to pay to play.
  • Studio 54 followed none of the rules like having a liquor license.
  • “Celebrities, sex, and drugs hold people’s attention,” says Tyrnauer.

    • Ian’s Perspective:

  • Ian avoided talking about Studio for 40 years.
  • He was ashamed because he went to prison.
  • He started to open up when his kids were curios.
  • When he began to have conversations with them, he perceived that they had no difficulty accepting both the great and the terrible aspects of the story.

    • Planning:

  • Rubell was 33 and Schrager only 30 when it opened.
  • The club was built in just six weeks—“the speed of a theater production”—on a shoestring budget With Schrager and Rubell’s combined talents for creating spectacular, over-the-top experiences.
  • “The only thing it’s not based on is money,” said Rubell of his famously unpredictable and harsh door policy.

    • Success and Downfall:

  • Studio was a major hit before it was raided by the IRS.
  • Rubell and Schrager were convicted and sent in 1980 to federal lockup for 13 months, first in Manhattan, then in Alabama.
  • They sold the club while in prison.
  • It was officially shuttered in the ’90s.