See Know Evil (2018) - full transcript

- What's that thing?

I can zoom
and see if it's okay.

There's a screen over here,
I can see, so I can come in

for a closeup like that or
I can pull back a little.

- No, I was talkin' about
the thing on my shirt.

Well,
that's a microphone.

- Oh, all right.

In that
small period of time.

It is a very small
period of time.

Wasn't a long, a long history,

it was like a couple of years.



Young people were coming up

and doing things
quite extraordinary.

It was a movement.

And Davide was the
epitome of all of it.

He felt the culture
and was sensitive

to what was going on

and he was able to
document it in a picture.

- Like once a year.

I go out to Naples and
just hang out with him

and his like, Italian wife.

Just have good food
and just hang out

and drive the scooters around.

You ever been-- you've
probably been to Italy.

They have those Vespas and like,



all the kids in New York,

everybody gets their
car at graduation.

The Italian kids
get their Vespas

and you just cruise
all around the city

and go in the wrong way out,

like traffic's going this
way, you'd go that way.

It's great.

He was definitely
aware of what was going on

and how this youth revolution in
music, and fashion,

art was so important.

- It's only in
that period of time

could someone like Davide
have broken through

because now very few magazines

would actually give
someone who's 18

the chance to be
in their magazine.

It was a true reflection
of a youth movement

which people who are older
didn't really understand

moral America agitated.

Tonight we
give you a veil look inside

the glamorous world of
the fashion industry.

The beautiful images you see
can mask an ugly reality.

Davide Sorrenti
was part of a new generation

of fashion photographers.

Some blame the younger photographers for starting the trend,

even some of of
Davide Sorrenti's work

reflects drug imagery.

He made
such beautiful work

but the work did have those
undertones of melancholy

that people could just
project whatever emotions

they wanted on to those
images and use his art work.

It got out of
control, it was a media frenzy.

- You know, it's
totally disgusting

how my brothers
name has been like,

totally, you know,

I don't know, he's been
totally misunderstood.

- America's so
like, I don't know,

kind of brainwashed
by all this media.

You know what I mean?

Like, the media has
taken over everything.

Like, tomorrow, if the media
said something about somebody,

everybody would believe it.

- I just think that Davide
was born under a special star

because it's just so odd
that it became so worldwide

and that his--
after his passing,

I looked at his creativity,
I looked at his pictures,

I looked at his art and
no one could hold a candle

to his work.

Talk about taking your children
for granted.

- Okay, check it out.

Get the page, get the page.

You got the page?

This is a spray can,
this is the wall,

this is spray paint on wall.

- But he had this--
- That's the A.

- I don't know, this energy.

This ability to
draw you toward him.

So yeah, yeah I
definitely remember him

because it was the
tone of his voice

and it was his vernacular
and the things he said.

His way of expressing himself.

You couldn't not want to
bend an ear to what the kid

in the room was saying
because he was hilarious,

he was charming, and
he was right.

- There was this air about
him that followed him.

You could feel it and
that was the magic of him

because he was a street kid

but yet he lived up in
the stars and the heavens.

- Davide was the
quintessential B-boy.

He tagged, he was a
skater and an artist.

You know, he was a
really prolific artist.

He had this foe, thug,
gangster way about him

and the way that he
would speak sometimes

but I knew at the core
he was just a sweet kid

but yet at the same
time he was exposed

to these incredible elite
scenarios being on photo shoots

with leading fashion
models and working with,

you know, major fashion brands.

Really amazing,
actually, to think back.

His family, how powerfully
influential they were on him

and on each other.

He comes from a pedigree
of creative visionaries.

Everybody in the fashion world
knows who the Sorrenti's are.

And they were a very
glamorous group of people.

They were like Kennedys of
the downtown style scene.

- We grew up in a
little neighborhood

just up on the hills of Naples.

My dad's an artist, he
was painting all the time

and my mom was sort
of working in fashion

and it was very, very
free and very young

and sort of, kind of, like a
hippie lifestyle a little bit.

- It's not like America, like,

people actually care
about each other in Italy.

You know, like, the
people from the windows

are like, yo, what's up?

You're like, hey, how
you doing, Mrs. Whatever?

You know and like they all
look out for each other,

like, everybody's your
mother or your grandmother.

In New York, people are like,

tryin' to kidnap each other's
kids and shit.

You're like, what the hell.

- It was very colorful
and crazy at the same time

and there was so much love.

And I think that's
what kept us so grounded

is that we knew that at the
base of everyone's insanity

there was love, you know?

And pain because of
Davide's illness.

- Davide had been
diagnosed with thalassemia

when he was one.

- It was a horrible disease
and children weren't supposed

to live 'till over
two, three years old.

I had taken him to the doctor
and the doctor had said,

at this point, he's very sick,

you should take him home
and have him die in peace.

And he looked so drained
and I started to cry.

It was a pretty
touch-and-go situation.

He was a normal kid
but he suffered a lot.

- He had to go through all
sorts of medical procedures,

transfusions every two
weeks were extremely painful

and uncomfortable,
and the needles.

You know, those things
are are really dramatic

when you're little.

I remember
taking him to the hospital

when he was really little,
with my dad and my mom.

There would be, like,
these long hallways

and we would hear kids crying
while he got his transfusion,

which would usually take three
hours or something like that.

- We would go out and there'd
be people dressed in white

and he'd start screaming

because he thought it
was, you know, a doctor.

Life wasn't easy for him.

- Every single night he
had to put on his machine

for his medication.

Every night he would cry
and I would be in bed

and I would say, please,
God, let him stop suffering.

And then I guess he got
more and more used to it

and became braver and
braver and stopped crying.

I remember, I remember
when he stopped crying

and he would put it on himself.

I'll never forget, he
said, Nina, why is it

that people hurt
themselves so much

and I struggle so hard to live?

And he was really young
when he said that to me.

Do you know what I mean?

And it, kind of like,
I was taken by it

and I was like, whoa,
I didn't expect it.

And then I thought, I mean,

that's the way he
thought about things.

It was always very deep.

He always saw the
core of a situation

or a person and why things
were the way they were.

- We came to New York,
I was 10 years old,

Davide was five years old.

When my parents separated,

my mom wanted to come
back to New York.

The treatment for his illness

was definitely
more advanced here.

It was very hard because
we came with nothing.

My mom came with nothing.

- I found a small, very
small, one bedroom apartment.

They slept in the
bedroom and then I slept

in the living room.

I have to say, my
Neapolitan chutzpah,

you know, being
strong, being ballsy,

really got me through a lot.

- She was tough, so
it's definitely genetic,

like, the whole hustling thing.

She was the big time hustler.

Since I was a
single parent, it's always like

you have to be close, you
know, the one thing you have

is family and love.

They were inseparable.

We had to
overcome the challenges

in our lives together.

Davide would like,
cook chicken for us

while my mother was out working.

I would pick him up at school

and I would take
him to the hospital

when my mother couldn't
take him to the hospital.

We made it in New York
because we were together.

- I was in this whole new
like, place, this America,

and I was like, I just figured
out that Marilyn Monroe

wasn't Italian and they
like, the voice was dubbed.

You know what I mean?

Like, when you're a little
kid, you don't really know

that like, some
Italian person is like,

talking over Marilyn's voice
or like, cartoons and stuff.

And I just came to
America and I was like,

oh shit we have television,
these people are speaking

a different language.

How does that go about?

I used to get lost on the train
all the time I hated that.

I was like seven years old
taking the train by myself.

- He was a very
shy child that was

in this little shell.

He was like in an
egg or something.

Maybe it was the
move to New York

that was a big shock for him.

- Davide hated it.

I mean, Davide refused
to speak English.

Dave just wanted to go home.

He was so disattached.

- He knew he was going
to die quite young.

He knew the older he got,
the closer to the end he was.

So, he kind of didn't
invest so much.

And as soon as he
somehow owned it

and put it behind him and
said hey, you know what,

I'm gonna live life
the way that I want to.

I'm not gonna live
life like a sick child.

I'm gonna live it.

And that was it.

It was like, he played
soccer, he roller bladed,

and he had lose bones so
he was really in danger

of really hurting himself.

And he didn't care, he
was like, I love this,

I'm gonna do it and he was
an amazing roller blader.

You know, fearless.

My brother
and I would stay out

'till late sometimes
hanging out, skateboarding,

playing basketball in the parks.

New York was different then.

It was a hard city
but it was also cool,

there was also a lot of energy.

It was like an amusement park compared to Italy.

So much youth
culture around you.

- He wrote, gonna be exposed,

at some point or
another to graffiti

and I think in an artistic
family, something about it,

like, struck a chord with us.

It was a way to
express ourselves.

Davide took it
extremely seriously.

You could see his
tag was everywhere.

You couldn't go down a
street without seeing his tag

on a block from uptown
to downtown everywhere.

- He was highly creative.

I remember one night, he was
10, and he asked to borrow

a movie camera and
he shot a piece

with two his fighter dolls.

We were blown away that he
did this whole piece at 10.

And then I remember
another episode,

fighting at school
with the art teacher.

She gave him a really bad grade

because he did this
picture of the sky

and the sky was black.

And she said, you know, skies
are blue they're not black.

And he said, well you know
this is my interpretation.

So she says, no
you do it in blue.

And he says, well my father
said that you do what you feel,

that's what art is about.

So, what's
she like, your mother?

I mean as a photographer,
as a person.

- Like a person that I-- just
like a very strong woman.

It was just my mother
and three children.

She was working
at a coffee shop.

And then, but she was
always like, streamlined it

and never like, got freaked out.

So, she was able to like, you
know, she started becoming

a Fashion Stylist and you
know, I know from there,

she got into this whole
like weird fashion thing.

And from there she
was just chillin'.

You know?

- I held so many jobs.

I did everything.

Decorated apartments,
worked as a waitress,

it goes on and on.

And then I had a break.

My career took off.

We had the studio
and the dark room

and all the equipment
and lighting.

It was so natural, it was like
a family business, you know.

And we all played
around with it.

- I knew Davide, I mean, I
really became close to Davide

through Francesca Sorrenti,

'cause I was close
to his mother.

'Cause I was a stylist then,

Davide would always
want to borrow clothes

and he was just always
interested in things.

- I remember a couple of times

where I had met with Francesca
about a shoot or something

and Davide came with her.

He would camp out in my office

and asked me questions,
questions, questions, questions.

He wanted to see everything.

He had a comment on everything.

He had a ton of energy.

- I am your brother and
your son is my, whatever.

I just wanted to know everything
about everything, kind of.

I just wanted to have, like,
total understanding of things.

I kind of started hanging
out with older people,

like, much older than me, like
some of my friends are 30,

some of them are 26.

I guess it's just because
I'm like fond of 'em

because they know like, a lot.

- He was very oddly worldly.

There was this touch
of juvenile delinquent

meets artistic.

Dave had that charm
wherever we went.

I remember once I went to see
Yves Saint Laurent's show.

So very posh.

And we were sitting
there and I remember,

Franca Sozzani from
Italian Vogue there

and she's sitting directly
across the way of the runway.

And he says to me, mom, who's
that beautiful lady across

the room, she's stunning.

I'd love to take a
picture of her.

You know, of course,
Franca Sozzani,

everybody, you know, walks on
eggs when they're around her.

But he's staring at her
and she waves to him.

So he goes around
and he sits with her

and I'm thinking,
I'm the photographer,

I've worked for Italian Vogue

and there's my son going
to sit with Franca Sozzani.

And then we go out that night,
and we go to this restaurant

and I see Franca, she's
goes, ciao Davide.

You know and it's
like, come stai?

And I'm like, okay.

Davide had that
energy about him.

- Hot 97, you know
what I'm sayin?

We gonna keep it going, keep
it goin' and keep it flowin'.

Then we gonna come back,
with my man Craig Bank

and Biggie Smalls in
the house, a'ight.

And South
France in the house.

Now, ladies and
gentleman of the radio audience,

it gives me a great pleasure
to introduce you to SKE.

- I had walked into class
one day and I saw this kid

with these bright pink socks.

He just had this whole
cool style about him.

So we just kinda hit it off.

We were both two, like, rascals.

We always liked to play fight
and run around and throw eggs

off the roof of his building.

Just cause a ruckus.

I introduced him to
all my friends downtown

and we kind of put it all
together and formed a crew.

- Like a pack,
it's sort of like,

the teenage rat pack
that's sort of

how I saw them as a group.

- Definitely he's someone
that you didn't forget.

Like a first meeting with
him left something with you

that you took away.

- Real into art and being
creative and into graffiti

and photography and style.

It was always about style.

- Before I had met Dave
and I had seen his tag,

I had imagined that he was
like this big tall dude,

like, huge, jacked because
all his tags were so high

and in all these crazy places.

So you'd just imagined that
whoever is doing this has balls.

Then when I met him, he
was just this little dude.

- You know, when we first
met, to be honest with you,

like I thought he was
somebody's little brother.

But his personality
was fucking huge

and his voice was even massive.

He had like an old man's voice.

Yo, what's up?

Yo, Dick, what are you doing?

Pass the blunt.

He had this kind of weird like,

Italian meets downtown voice.

- Dave was definitely
at the forefront

of that kind of
sense of adventure.

It was Friday night
and I'd say, bye, Ma.

And I'd go out the front door

and I had no idea
where we were gonna go.

- You know, I didn't know
if I was gonna get punched

in the face,
I didn't know if I was gonna end up on some crazy adventure,

I didn't know if I was gonna
be runnin' from the cops.

I really didn't know
what was gonna happen.

- We skateboarded, we roller
bladed, we wrote graffiti.

We really just
ran around like maniacs.

Uptown, downtown,
west side, east side,

just, we ran the city like
we just straight ran shit.

And there was something

that we really relished in being

bad boys and we liked
having that reputation.

- With his graffiti, basically
one time we got called in,

he was, police had him in
the subway station precinct

and we went in to pick him up

and said, what did he do?

He was writing graffiti.

One cop started
chucklin' and we're like,

well, where did he do it?

And he's like, he was doing
it right on the front door of

the subway entrance
to the precinct.

Davide was writing his tag
and the cop opened the door

and was like,
what are you, stupid?

♪ Yeah

♪ To all the killers and
the hundred dollar billas ♪

♪ Dealers, check it out now

- Argue as his tag,
fit him perfectly.

- Yeah.
- Like, he was just a mad,

- arguing ass nigga.

Here's the A, you
know what I'm sayin?

The R, which blends into the G.

The core of a lot of
our camaraderie was graffiti.

- The essence of it was
exposure and notoriety

and like, fame.

- That's kind of,
where like Dave,

I'm sure got a lot of
his vision for fashion.

What a perfect tag
for that little shit.

- Always like, in your face,
like counter to everything.

It's such an argue, fucker.

Yeah, perfect tag for Dave.

I remember the day that he was
kind of declared as the crew.

- Davide wanted to
switch it to where

the crew was part of your tag.

- And you know, they
probably spent a ton of time

just trying to figure out how
to make SKE like, something.

- We thought it was like cooler

and the next level of graffiti.

- And then once you
had the initials

then you started to think
of what it could mean.

- When we were younger, I
guess it was Some Kids Envied

because all the kids,
like, we would be like,

oh they all envy us.

When we got a little bit
older, it would be like,

See Know Evil because we
understood what evil was

and we could see it and
we know what it was.

So, it would be like,
See and Know Evil.

- Okay.

- Everybody here was put
on to marijuana by Dave.

- Fucking Dave.
- That first time.

- He wasn't really scared
to experiment with drugs.

- He's not even scared
of just with life.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Like, there are people who worry about what they're gonna do,

like, I find myself
bothering my mind about,

oh what am I gonna be?

Am I gonna be successful?

Am I gonna have a
life when I get older?

Dave didn't care.

He wasn't worried about what
was gonna happen to him.

In fact, whatever was
going on it right now,

that's the best enough to him.

- What?

He was fearless,
he was so fearless.

A lot of people who knew
Davide didn't know he had

the disease and he didn't
act like he had a disease,

he didn't act like he was sick,
he didn't act like he needed

to sleep every night with
a thing that pumped iron

into his blood and
he kinda hid that.

You know, he
wasn't about to tell his friends

that his legs were killing him

and that his stomach was
upset or his back hurt him.

- One day we were at his house,

we started like play
fighting and all the sudden

he took one of his syringes,
filled it up with water,

and he started spraying
it like a water gun.

And he's spraying me, and
spraying me, and spraying me.

Like an idiot, I
grabbed the knife

and I just went to like
reflect that like, water

and I stuck the knife
right in his wrist

and it just stuck there.

I literally started
crying and running around.

But he was just cool as a
whistle, he was just like,

wow, this is fucking crazy.

So, I called Fran and
she started screaming

on the other phone.

She ran to the house, we
took him to the hospital.

From that moment on, I
kind of knew the extent

of his disease and his
mom had told me like,

you really can't play
fight with Davide

and you really
can't rough him up

'cause he loses blood cells.

So, after that I
kinda got a lesson,

a little bit about what it was.

- Even though he looked
five years younger

on the inside his
organs were like

a 50 year old man's organs.

'Cause they deteriorate
at such a speed.

Nobody saw that, nobody
would even imagine it

for one second even,
'cause he was so young.

He would sleep over
at my house and he would come

with his machine that
he had to sleep with.

And I think to see that
was a little bit scary.

That like, this kid had to sleep

with this thing on every night.

- Main thing of the disease
is I'm missing the gene

that makes healthy
red blood cells.

Red blood cell is
the cell that carries

the oxygen through the body.

Without that, we're dead.

I met Davide at The
New York Hospital.

We were teenagers and we
were getting transfused.

We were going through
what other teenagers

were going through,

except we were getting
transfused every 14 days

but that built such a
commodity between us.

We had so much fun.

We just laughed and these
were long days, 10, 11 hours.

I remember sometimes we would
get done 10:30 at night,

11 o'clock at night.

We would joke around, we
should just bring out pillows.

'Cause everything had
to be a joke with us.

It made time go faster,
if we laughed, you know,

throughout the
transfusion treatment.

So, there was a joke sometimes
like, who's the next one?

Who's the next one that's gonna die?
That was a joke.

Who is the next one?

- I started taking
pictures in New York.

I practiced for a few years
before I was modeling in Europe.

- First time I met Mario was
because I'd become friendly

with David Simms
through The Dark Room

and he had met Mario and Mario
didn't really know anyone

in London and so David said,

can you hang out
with him, basically.

So, I invited him to my house.

And we pretty much
hung out every day.

And then he said to me,
I just met this girl,

she's really cute.

And it was Kate.

And then he took
pictures of Kate

and then he got hired at
Calvin and then his career,

just sort of took off.

It was so fast.

He looked like he was
really prepared for it.

And I would say the
same thing about Davide.

They both had an inner
confidence on set straight away

that was kind of unflappable.

- When I met Mario, the
way the fashion photography

was done at that
particular time,

was it was very glossy.

It was all about these
big herculean girls,

big hairdos, big shoulder pads,

and there was a
movement from Europe,

which basically had a whole
group of younger photographers

who were influenced by
the grunge movement here.

The emerging sensibility
was kind of a reaction

to an existing establishment.

- It was a funny
period in fashion.

At that time a lot of Europeans
were coming to New York,

bringing a new sense of style

and a new way of making
pictures that was very fresh.

- If you think about the
world that we live in today,

it was born in the 90's.

That was really a
New York moment.

- It was like some of the
little Teutonic plates shifting

when everyone suddenly
moved to New York.

Rent wasn't that expensive.

There was a lot of opportunity

and there was a lot
of young people.

Although none of
us would admit it,

we were wildly ambitious

and New York's a great
place for ambition.

It's
done become a magnet

for all these kind
of artistic people

who are being put in
positions of power

within corporate
structures in America.

New York started being
more of a center for people

to come and practice the work.

- And it was a
real kinetic energy

and a feeling that
something was happening.

- So many extremes
have been pushed.

I mean, you can't be any more
death than Death or Slayer.

I have to kill myself, you
know, to really get a reaction.

- That was a period
that young people said,

we don't want this, we
don't want it at all.

And they were rebelling.

♪ Go on, take everything, take
everything I want you to ♪

- Maybe it was Kurt
Cobain and Nirvana.

Whole kind of Seattle scene
was really influential.

- Everything you can say
about the 80's, you know,

had an opposite
reaction in the 90's.

It was
just very different

and it was very exciting.

You could see that, like,
the landscape of things

were changing in every way.

- There was the one from like--

- Throw?

- 9:30 to 3:00.

I don't have to tell you
to press play, do you?

- Davide's photography
started to blossom

after Mario was hailed,
as sort of like,

a little bit of a wunderkind.

- He really looked up to me

and he really emulated
everything that I did.

Well, Mario was
always an influence on Davide.

When Mario was into
modeling and keeping himself

with model appearance, Dave
felt he had to do that too

and then Mario started to shoot

and showed him the camera

and he realized he
loved the camera too.

- He kinda wanted what we
had, you know what I mean?

He was kind of sick of being
at home on his machine,

being restricted, he
wanted a life for himself.

And he saw what we were doing

and I think he saw that
as a vehicle for himself.

So, Davide
sort of took advantage

of the opportunity of being
Mario's younger brother

and would tag along
on sets so he got to,

kind of, get into that world.

- Davide was into photography
because he born into it.

It was all around him.

So, he was like, the next
up and more raw with it.

He was never
concerned with his style.

It was already
there and defined.

It was just about capturing it.

Davide
was a New York kid.

The way he approached
photography was probably

the same way the he approached
the streets, you know,

and the way he
approached graffiti.

He just kind of went into
it and he charmed it.

Dave understood
the idea of style

before a lot of people our age.

And when I say style I
don't mean fashion, I mean,

the idea that you can do
something a certain way

and give it certain properties

and if you do it
with enough finesse,

then it's awesome.

- Seemed to me like a real honor

when Dave decided that
you were part of the group

or part of his life, that he
would waste the frame on you.

He had, like, a sensitivity
to those experiences

in those situations that
allowed him to appreciate,

you know, really with
what was going on.

Maybe his health
situation contributed

to him feeling like he
needed to really hold on

to those moments.

- His work has that feeling
of hanging with him.

There's always
this certain light

that seemed kind of magical.

I went over to his house
after school one day

and just seen all his
work on the walls.

I think there was such a
mix of photos of skaters,

and graffiti writers,
and thugs, and models,

and it was just all his life.

It was all one thing.

Reportage photography.

- He lived with this fearlessness that I think came from him

not being afraid to live
because he could die.

I remember being so terrified
everyday of everything,

you know, I was so uncomfortable
that I was gonna like,

say the wrong thing
or do the wrong thing

and here was this
character who seemed

to kind of rise
above all of that.

- And even though I
was dating his brother,

it was like Davide's
mission to make sure

that we were always cuddling.

And Mario was always like,
Davide, get off my girl.

Dave be like, yeah
whatever.

- I mean, being a teenager
is both the most awesome

and the worst thing in the world

it's awesome because you
feel totally invincible

and it's the worst
because you're a teenager

and dumb as shit.

- There is definitely some
questionable choices made,

let's put it that way.

- So once, Dave had
been in the hospital

for a collapsed lung.

So he couldn't smoke weed
'cause his lungs were collapsed,

so we got a bunch of
shrooms and we decided

we're gonna eat these
shrooms and go up

to the Museum of
Natural History.

At some point we wind up
in the Hall of Mammals.

We're like, buggin'
out up there.

Dave noticed the walrus
diorama and for some reason

he found the walruses to
be the most amusing things

he had ever seen in his life.

So he starts laughing
and he's trying to get us

to look at the
walruses but I remember

he was laughing so hard
that he couldn't talk,

plus he had had a collapsed
lung like a week or two earlier

and so he was having
a hard time breathing.

The next thing I know he
fucking walks backwards,

stumbles over the guardrail

and falls into the
walrus diorama,

which we all think is
the most hilarious thing

that's ever happened.

So we're like literally,
I don't mean figuratively,

we're literally rolling
around on the floor laughing

and then we get up and we
realize Dave's not moving.

So we're like, yo Dave, get up.

Yo, Dave, get up.

And Dave's fucking passed out

in the walrus
diorama, eyes open.

I immediately thought
like, holy shit,

this is a fucking
after school special.

Like, our friend's gonna
die in the walrus diorama

'cause fucking did
mushrooms and went

to the Museum of
Natural History.

So, we all started
panicking, fucking panicking

and literally running
around in circles.

I think somebody was trying
to find a security guard,

somebody else was like
trying to call 9-1-1.

And then Dave just kinda
sat up and he was like,

yo, let's get out of here.

And we got in a cab
and we went home.

Like, that was the kind
of shit that would happen

on a semi-regular basis.

- Dave was part of
this pack of boys

that I would always
see running around

the building of my parents.

At some point we just kind
of introduced ourselves

'cause you know, all those
boys were very sort of cute,

and charming, and mischievous,
and intriguing to me.

I really fondly remember
Davide calling me

whenever he would wake
up, which was never early.

He would ask me to buy him a
chipwich at the deli downstairs

from his house and I would
and we would just go hang out

in his room and talk.

I was just, kind of, messing
around with the idea of being

a stylist and I saw his
journal, he showed it to me

and I just suggested that
we do a project together.

He helped me, I helped him

and it just all kind
of started from there.

I remember like the
first major project

that we worked on
together, he had this idea

that he wanted to
shoot his friends

doing all of their
amazing tricks

in these very refined suits.

I pulled a ton of
really nice menswear

and we put them all in it.

His stepdad, Steve, drove us
around in their maroon minivan.

I just have this memory of
like, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

and just riding around
with a bunch of wild boys

and they just went crazy.

♪ Foe tha' love of money

♪ Gotta make that money, man

♪ It's still the same now

♪ Gotta make that money, man

♪ Gotta get on the grind

♪ Pop in the clip of my nine

And it got published.

And that was huge
exposure for both of us

and it happened in
the most organic way.

That was kind of the
beginning of our relationship,

I guess, from a
professional standpoint,

if you would call it that.

Even though we were working,
it never felt like work.

Like, we would just hang
out, ideas would be born

and they would come to life.

He would always just kind of
take me on these adventures.

I always felt like I was
with my little brother

and we were going
on these missions.

- He's like a little
boss in a way.

- Our whole crew
is very ambitious,

whether it's starting
a clothing line,

or starting a rap group,
or throwing parties,

or selling drugs.

Whatever it was, everybody
was super ambitious.

- They were very, like,
business suvvy, in a way.

They were able to capitalize

on everything that
they were doing.

- We are, I don't
know how to say it

without sounding like an
asshole but like, we were cool.

You know what I mean?

Like, we had this sense
that people started

to be interested in the
things that we were telling

them were cool

- And then we did these things.

Sorry to get out of the picture.

Because of Davide, you
know, we did this infamous

sticker that like, bong,
Davide was always around models

and we were those punk
kids with the attitudes,

and fuck the system, and fuck
the world, and all that shit.

So, it was like, you
know, fuck models.

Models suck.

Through that, we made
the models suck shirts,

we gave 'em to models,
that started picking up,

blowing up.

We would always just
wanna create buzz.

Any time we went bombing or
we had a group of kids skating

or skateboarding, like Hal
Hunter and all these kids,

we'd give them a
bunch of stickers

and they would plaster
them all over the city.

Like, before you knew
it, it was everywhere.

There was a story in Vogue
that said Calvin Klein

was sabotaging his own ads
with these models suck stickers

to create buzz.

So, we called up that
person who wrote the article

and we were like,
are you kidding me?

That's not Calvin
Klein, that's us.

The next month they corrected
it and said it was us.

- New York magazine talked
about the group, the SKE group.

They were the beginning of
their own youth movement within

the fashion industry.

For Davide,
he recognized the power of the media

and how he could
access that right away.

He was getting his pictures out,

and he was making
those connections,

and he was super social,

and he was at
parties all the time.

- Davide was always just
the charming little guy,

you know, everyone loved Davide.

And by the way, he's just,
happens to be hanging out

on some of the best
sets in the industry

and so he totally milked
it for everything.

He would charm the
pants off all the girls

and then of course be like,
hey, can I take your picture?

Like, on the side here?

Next thing you know
it, Davide's like,

got all the best
girls in his book.

- For a 17 year old, he
was very professional.

Like he could instruct
the model how to move,

and he would set up
the whole set himself,

you know, he was a one man show.

- He had this ability to
make you feel comfortable

and he was really
loving, warm, sweet.

Modeling always made me insecure

and I was intimidated
by that whole world

but not with Davide.

Davide, when he
would look at me,

it was like he
was looking at me.

When he would take my
picture, he just wanted

to take Jade's picture.

I wasn't supposed to be like,

a professional
model or anything.

I loved working with Davide

and I wanted to do
it all the time.

I wish he was the only
photographer

that I ever had to work with.

- He took this
one picture of me,

that's one of my
favorite pictures of me,

lying on the very edge of
the roof of our building.

He was standing on the edge and
trying to get the cars below

and me in the same frame.

I think about it now and
I'm like, if Fran was there,

oh my gosh, but that was Davide,

he would do anything
to get the shot.

You know, he wasn't
thinking about the fact

that like, oh, I
could totally fall.

He was always on the edge
of something dangerous.

- I've worked with a
lot of photographers

and they can around
and around in circles

trying to find that moment
but he knew what he wanted.

Poses were always quite lyrical,
they almost were statuesque

or Renaissance Italian figures.

There was something
really romantic and heroic

about the shapes of the models.

He would push the models
to such an extent,

they'll be just that point
where the body is about to break

or tip over, that was always
a point that he would get.

Just that last little
push over the edge.

- Fashion is good and evil,
it's all wrapped into one.

The best people, most
interesting, so artistic,

so revolutionary in their
their thinking, visionaries

and then at the same time, so
self-destructive, so insecure.

When you're young and beautiful,

everybody wants to
be close to you,

everybody wants a
piece of that beauty.

The fashion industry,
that's how it runs

it just takes youth and
beauty and it feeds on it.

You know, a lot of girls
didn't have the foresight,

didn't have have
the right mentors,

didn't have people
protecting them.

I know Jaime didn't have that.

- Jaime, where's Jaime King?

Recently the
New York Times magazine

pegged Jaime as one of
the next supermodels.

- She was really made for this.

It's her personality.
- Really?

In what way?

- She's kind of an adventurist.

Just kind of, spunky.

- I met Jaime, when
she was 15 years old

and I did a job with her.

She was a very, very
cool, young girl.

- Wild child, yeah, very
beautiful, very charismic.

She was special.

- It was one of
my first campaigns

and working with Mario Sorrenti
was such a huge deal for me.

The whole thing felt like
it a dream, you know?

And I remember Davide
came in with his like,

it was like a yellow
Northface and he was all like,

oooh, like, Davide came in
like he owned the joint.

- And then I went back to Europe
and then when I came back,

I think they were hanging out.

- You know, and she had a
really special relationship

with him, they talked
about everything.

They had a lot in common.

- I was very sick my whole life,

as a child and I had
multiple, multiple surgeries,

so when I met Davide I felt
like there was one other person

that kinda understands
what it was like for me

when I was a kid growing up.

He had these moments
where he would really,

I don't know if it was
a-- it wasn't loneliness

but it was a solitary
nature that I think came

with his disease.

- I think they both
experienced a lot of pain

and they did connect
on that level.

Being so young and going
through so many things

at such a young age.

- I think it actually
took a moment

but when we all realized,
oh Dave's got like,

a girlfriend, it's
like a real thing.

- She was like a girl who
didn't exist in real life.

Like, she was the girl who
literally stepped out of

the pages of you
know, magazines.

And he
really fell for her.

He was very
passionate and so tender.

They both were really
in awe of each other.

- Like, a great,
tender, happy moment

that I remember with Davide was,

Davide and I and like
three of my best friends

drove to a concert in Wisconsin.

Everyone had fallen
asleep and Davide and I

are watching this
incredible sunrise

and we just went out and we
were shooting and exploring

and like, I remember
that moment so distinctly

and I remembered that
being, was glorious,

I had ever seen the sky
my life, even to this day.

Having that moment with
him through pictures

and the intimacy of just
being together and being young

and seeing such
beautiful landscape

and everyone else was sleeping.

And a lot of the
times it felt like

there was an understanding
between us, like,

everyone else was sleeping
and that we were the only two

that really understood.

There would be days where
he would just be so tired

and his body would hurt so
bad that he didn't even want

to like, get out of bed.

And then him trying to
hide that or cover that

with whatever he was
doing because he would.

But that's where think, where
part of his huberous came in.

Because of the illness,
in a strange way,

that also made him a
very beautiful artist

because he was
incredibly sensitive,

and compassionate,
and empathetic.

You just felt like you were
seeing something very intimate,

you felt like you were seeing
something very spontaneous,

you felt like he captured
people in the moment

of them being who they were.

Some of the best
photographs ever taken

of Jaime King were taken
by Davide Sorrenti.

You could tell, like,
he really loved her.

She was his muse.

Dave
had, kind of like,

captured lightning in a bottle

there, like, she was
a, you know, she was,

you know, she was something.

She looked
like she was perfection

but she had other things
that were on her mind.

I think he was drawn to
her bad side a little bit.

The two of them
together might've been like

a crazy force that was, he
couldn't really fight it.

- Davide, by surprise,
came by the office one day

and we didn't know who he was.

We thought he was
delivering something to us.

But when we asked what
he was delivering,

he didn't really want
to give us anything.

So after some inquisition,

he'd say that he was a young
photographer starting out

and if we were interested
to look at his work.

He has on his hand
a thick black book.

Photographers who come to see
editors with little books like

that are really photographers

who are just starting
out with personal work.

They haven't really
done magazines,

they haven't done anything
that's really published.

In the book was a snapshot,
pictures, recollections

here and there, little
things, archival stuff.

But what's more efficient
was some of the remarks about

people, about how
he sees things.

Photographers need
not prove to anybody

whether they could do magazine,

whether they could
do this or that.

They have to show us if
they have a personal vision.

A way they see things
that are different

and how they translate all
of that into the visual.

So, I hired him.

What we did in the first
story was we took a bunch

of his friends and we
went to do a shooting

in the subway system.

We rented a van and we get all
his friends dressed upstairs

and we would all go down
together to the subway.

I would be the
surveillance master.

Look out for the police,
look out for trains arriving,

and trains going.

We're not talking about
just in the subway.

We're talking, on
the subway track.

Maybe because of his
awareness and his mortality,

Davide's photographs
always had the sense, like,

immediate danger.

You know, he definitely
wasn't glamorous,

And sort of,
that moment after innocence

but before we started
to realize everything's

not so great all the time,

Davide's work, is that
moment frozen in time.

What's the
coolest shoot you've done?

- Probably just stuff
for me, just like,

meeting people on the
street, just walking around.

I could never, I never really
liked any fashion shoots.

You know, just because
I just like documentary

but like more
photography stuff better.

You know like, like Robert
France, and just walking around.

Fashion is more like, I think
it's like a way to get money

so that you can do
your personal stuff.

Like, what kind
of stuff are you into?

- Just simple documentary
stuff, you know,

nothing too glamorous or
fabulous or whatever you want

to call it, I'm just into
like, regular everyday life

kind of stuff, you know.

Basically like this
place is cool, you know,

I'm into this place and
nothing too outrageous, like,

big fricken' posing models,
looking like swans and shit.

- His edits were non-negotiable.

So, basically, you are
getting what you are given.

And that was it

and my job was to try
and convince everybody

that they weren't being
dismissed as children.

It's quite bruising to have
an 18 year old kid tell you

that this is what
you're gonna get

and basically not
to ask any questions

because he knows
better, he's the artist.

He had a complete style,
approach, and a language.

There was always an
exploration for truth

out of everything.

I mean, it could be
as simple as music

that he was listening to,

a piece of clothing,
a tag on a wall.

There was no separation
between life and art for him.

So, everything was about
feeling, and execution,

and aesthetic, and it
was always this sense of,

there was always this sense of,

taste is a wrong word for it.

- And there were some days
that you didn't see Davide

because you knew that he kind
of pushed himself too hard,

not because he was
partying, he was shooting.

He was out shooting his fans,
he was staying up really late

and just kind of soaking everybody's energy in around him.

As if like, well, as if
he knew that he had to.

I mean, this was his
moment to live, you know.

- He was like that
flame, you know,

the typical story of all
the moths around this flame,

it was like he was so
beautiful, so bright,

I mean, he was sitting at
a table, you just smiled.

That was the amazing
thing, you know?

People just smiled,
like who is this kid?

- That time of my life, my
business was not in a good place

because I was too commercial.

Davide Sorrenti walked
into my life one day

and he came in with this energy

that I have never
experienced before.

I had a receptionist.

Her orders were to
never let anybody behind

without being
announced and accepted.

He just got by her.

And I hear this kid talking
in the hallway to people.

I go out of my office going,
what's going on there?

And there's this kid with
his trainers on, and jeans,

and a t-shirt and a little
necklace around his neck.

And he goes, dude.

He didn't even know who I
was at that moment either.

It didn't matter that I was David Lipman
and that Lipman was my company.

I could've been Joe
Schmo at that point.

For Dave, it didn't
matter who you were.

You were the same.

And then we started
looking into his books.

We just spent hours
together that first moment.

It's hard for me to stop my day

but that day he stopped my day.

And I knew, at some point,

I was gonna give
this young man a job.

When I met him, I had
no idea he was sick.

Somebody else told me,

do you know that
Davide's really sick?

And I said, what do you
mean he's really sick?

This kid can't be sick!

There's nobody healthier that
I've ever met than this kid.

Then they told me about
his blood disorder

and disease and that he
didn't have long to live.

Matter of fact, he might
not get out of his 20's!

I heard that and I
just, my heart broke.

- With Dave, it was like
he was kind of in a hurry.

There was a clock ticking.

When you smell roses, when
you know you're only here

for another few weeks
it's the most incredible

thing you've ever
smelled in your life.

Your senses are
sharpened, so to speak.

And I think Dave
kind of had that.

I had a tattoo down the
Jersey Shore and he was like,

I'd really like to pay for that

'cause then you'll
always remember me.

He would say things like
that and it'd be like, cuh.

You know, he was aware.

Right
around when he was 20

he was having a lot
of physical problems.

- He was told that
osteoporosis was setting in.

I think what he said is
that in a couple of years

he could be in a reduced
spending a lot of time

in a wheelchair, which
was just not Davide.

- I remember like times
where he would come back

from the hospital and
friends that he grew up

with the same disease,
would pass away.

And then him having
to deal with that.

And then like what do you
really say to someone?

- Oh, God.

From back then,
our group was good.

We had fun.

Steven.

Davide.

From back then a good portion
of us had passed away.

A lot of us passed away.

If you go to the clinic now
there's only like 15 of us.

- Well, I like the
idea of having kids.

Yeah, that's a great idea.

I look at my baby pictures
and there isn't that many,

so I'd like to take
pictures of all my kids.

Like, as their growing
up, you know what I mean?

Like, maybe like
one picture a month.

I have it like all
figured out already.

- I mean, I can't even
imagine what it would be like

to not see yourself
as a grown up.

You just automatically
take that other picture

and you're like all I
have is like right now.

So, what am I gonna do?

I'm gonaa-- let's go fuckin',
let's go write graffiti

and smoke fucking blunts
'till we can't see.

When these
pictures were dark,

they weren't just dark
because my pictures were dark.

I think they were dark
because he made a connection

with what they expressed.

- He always wanted to portray
in his fashion photography

sort of the depth of his
own, I guess despair.

The darkness for him
didn't speak of drugs,

it spoke of a dreamworld.

And that's how he put it.

He's like, Ma, it was like
a dream and your melancholy.

I remember him using
that word melancholy.

And I think that's how
he sort of saw himself.

- In every single magazine
that you see nowadays

they look like heroin addicts.

Their eyes are sunken in,

their poses are that of
somebody who's loaded.

- That whole a
heroin chic moment,

I think was a pretty
pathetic moment for fashion

and that's something that
certainly we didn't try

to endorse but a lot of the
more Avant-garde magazines did.

To show a lot of emaciated
girls looking depressed,

like they just
finished shooting up.

I mean, I don't think
that's the kind of image

that you want to see
in women's magazines.

What people don't
understand about heroin chic

is that it wasn't about heroin.

It was about being real.

It was about no makeup,
greasy hair, I don't care.

This is who I am.

That's what Mario
Sorrenti was about.

That's what Davide
Sorrenti was about.

- He never made you pose,
he was always looking for

that moment where you were
really true to yourself.

That's what's different
about his photographs

and other people
photographs at that time

was he wanted to
see you vulnerable

and naked, not being cool.

You know what I mean?

Like, he wanted to show
your imperfections.

As the years
grew on the images started

to become a little darker.

I mean, not just
Davide's but everybody's.

And I think it really
reflected, kind of, a mood

that sort of crept in, in the
industry at that time.

- The people who were
creating these images

were actually documenting
what was going on.

Kids' interest in heroin
at that particular time

was a reflection of what

they weren't being
given by society.

And it was being exploited
in the commercial fashion.

To sell clothes, to sell
livestock, to sell magazines,

it was being used to sell.

- And all the sudden there
was this huge drug movement

going on and everybody
thought it was cool.

Nobody thought it
would hurt anyone.

- Our peers were partying,
our agents were partying,

our managers were partying.

It was pretty much
are free-for-all.

- The people that were
supposed to be, quote-unquote,

protecting you, were
also the people using

and abusing drugs.

We were just a little kids
doing whatever we wanted to do

but at the same time you
feel like if you're not doing

what the adults are doing
then they won't hire you

or book you.

That creates a really
toxic combination.

- She loved Davide, dearly.

The only thing is, at
the time, you know,

she was on drugs and
heroin does make people

do very odd things but that is
not talking bad about Jaime.

Like I said, Jaime was a victim.

You know, at 14 a photo
assistant turned her on to drugs

and she got caught up
and she was addicted

and nobody did anything to
help her not be addicted.

- Like, I was ashamed.

Like, when you're that
young and you start doing

these things that like
all of these adults

are doing around you
and you're just a kid

and you don't know the
difference 'cause you think

that you're experimenting, you
don't think it's a big deal,

and then all the sudden you're
like in a really dark place.

I know that he wasn't
like, a huge fan of

the harder drugs.

- I mean, we did
all sorts of drugs

but there are a couple things
that were kind of very taboo.

Heroin being one of them.

- You know, to me at the time,

it just existed in an
entirely different world.

It wasn't part of my
world until it was

and then when it was, it's
a little bit of a labyrinth.

It can be hard to
navigate your way out.

I did end up having my own
experiences with heroin.

And interestingly enough,
like the only person

who really called me on
that, ever, was Dave.

He didn't come at
me all aggressively

or anything like that and
tell me I was being an idiot.

You know, but did call
me on it in his own way.

- Davide, I think, went
in thinking that he could

kind of save Jaimes
from doing the drugs.

Jaimes kinda fought it.

- Dave would say he
was gonna help her.

I guess they all say that.

- It was also at a
time where I feel like

he was very much establishing
his independency.

He moved out of his mom's house.

- Jaime King and Davide
lived in the brownstone

and then it turned into the
frat house of New York City.

All beautiful people,
they would hang out

there all night long.

- There were a lot
of people there.

You know, it was like,
it was a lot of teenagers

hanging out, sleeping on couches,
shit all over the place,

artwork all over, photographs,

fashion magazines,
everything was like.

- I lived with them for a
while until we got kicked out

or something cuz her
family came and saw

that it was like the party.

We were growing weed
in the apartment.

Her dad came and like,
blew up the spot.

- I think everybody knew
something weird was happening

and it was hard to say exactly what it was.
I know it was hard for me.

I knew.

Like, again, things were
just started getting

a little bit more
secretive and like,

shut off from other
parts of this crew

that we had for years.

- There was some natural
fracturing of the crew.

Everyone's got their
own aspirations

of what they want to
do with their life

and I think those
things were taking hold.

- You know, the last year
was a really tough year

of all those really sweet
kids that were exploding

with energy and creativity
had gotten sucked into drugs

and nightlife and some
sort of positive energy

was being sucked out of them.

It's kind of like a stage
in some people's lives

they go through, you know.

I went through a stage
like that in my life

and then you come out
from the other side

and it's like day
again, you know?

When you're the type of
person that's creative

and you're pushing boundaries

that eventually you
will get up to that edge

but you don't want to cross

but you want to like
get up to that edge

to see what's there.

I was that kind of person,
Davide was that kind of person.

He just needed to see
how far he could push.

- So, I wound up getting this
client in Montreal, Canada,

which were two jean brands.

One was Buffalo Jeans and
the other was Request.

But I let Davide
cast the campaign.

I let Davide style the campaign.

It was all his.

- I'm really fond of Davide
for having the vision.

To see Davide's talent and
let Davide has his way.

He did good at his job.

- He didn't want to book all
the girls from our agency.

He wanted to book a couple
from the other agencies,

even though, the owner of my
agency was appalled by it.

Davide stuck to his guns
because he needed those girls.

He felt that they
had the right stuff.

It was his first,
like, real campaign

and he dug his heels in.

- So the style of
things is one big table

and all the clothes are
all rolled up in a ball.

There's no hangers,
nothing passe like that.

And I go, Davide, what
are you doing, man?

He's like, making the clothes
look like shit.

Excuse my language.

And he goes, no, dude man,
this is the way we live, man.

These are jeans
for kids, you know,

like, this is the way it is.

And I could see the fear
in the client's eyes

and I just walked them
out and I said, you know,

you're about a young,
youthful brand.

So youths would be to.

If you want, let him go.

And Davide would hold
that camera in his hand

and take time exposed pictures

and I remember saying to him,

I said, they're all gonna be
out of focus, Davide.

I said, nothing's going
to be sharp

and he goes, dude,
don't worry man,

it's going to be the butters,
it's going to be the butters,

butters, butters, butters,

that was those words
for that moment.

When these prints came out
and they were so beautiful.

Slapping that brand
on it diminished

the photographs a bit.

It would have been amazing

if they're in an ID magazine
in England at that time

as an editorial story
or as an Art Exhibit

about the youthful moment
of the 90's where we were.

They were way better
than the brand

but then it didn't translate
to dollars right away.

And then the company wasn't
cool enough to understand

where to go with it.

But Dave was cool about it
because I remember a time

where they didn't
want to do it again

and Dave was like, fuck them,
we'll do something else, man.

A lot of it was him
coming of age too saying,

I've got it, I did it,
it's an advertising job

and I photographed it.

So, it was a big accomplishment.

Davide was actually
drawing up very, very quickly.

He was making huge
steps in no time.

If it were me it would
take me years and years

and for him it would
happen over months.

- Okay, we're right
down here now.

With the audience and
we're going to ask them

what they think about all
this hoopla that's going on.

Let's go.

So, we're standing here with

high fashion photographer,
Davide Sorrenti.

Davide, what the
hell, what's up man?

What were you
thinking about Coolio

and just this show
and all the girls.

I mean, have you ever been
to anything like this?

- Yeah, man, but
this one was butters,

you know, they have
their life flowin',

their girlies are
all good, clothes,

some of the clothes
were all good.

- What about the
champagne going around?

That's pretty nice.

- I don't know, I don't know
represent on any champagne.

- Davide had positioned himself
and was being recognized

by the industry as
somebody to look out for.

Especially when
you're that young

and you have the ability
to be able to capture

those kind of images, you
quickly come to the surface

and you're celebrated
for being somebody

that we all need
to be a part of.

- He so charmed everybody

and everybody saw so
much promise in him

that the fashion world
was anointing him.

- He was just starting
to break through

from behind the
shadow of his brother.

This was our golden boy.

He was
in a weird place

and I think he was in a
rush to get things done.

- Anyone that feels like
there's an expiration date

on their life will
constantly shift

between melancholy and wanting
to live life to the fullest.

A recklessness and an
honoring at the same time.

- You could see the drug
use, which he denied.

It's inevitable, you know?

You want to do what
your partner's doing,

you want to be close.

- You know, he was
frustrated in many ways

because he knew that
it was dangerous

but he also knew, well, I'm
not here for that long anyway.

- I don't know how
long the period was

when Dave first started
to dabble in heroin

but when it got really bad, it
got really bad, really fast.

- Dave started
putting out more work

but he also seemed to be
getting more fucked up.

With that
drug, in particular,

it completely swallows
up that person

that you thought you knew.

And it's just a shell of
that person with this, like,

something else inside them.

- Everyone knew he was on it

but just didn't really
know how to change it.

You know, no one knew
where to go and what to do.

We were just like, I dunno, man.

- You don't want to
alienate the person

but you don't want to
condone this behavior.

And then you keep
hoping for the best.

You kind of turn
a blind eye to it.

You know when Alex Burns
got involved in heroin,

people just straight up like
kicked the shit out of him

thinking that that
was going to do it.

And it didn't.

So, you can't beat up Davide
'cause he was kind of frail.

I had come out
of the other side of that

and when the tables were turned,

I didn't, I didn't really
have the character,

I don't think, to
confront him about it.

That was something
that I thought about

a lot over the years.

That whole
period was just like,

the end of the spiral.

You know, I remember
it that way.

And this was like, he had
already OD'ed like twice.

When he
was like, yo, I died.

He said that to
me, like yo, I died

and I came back to life.

I was dead, yo, and they
brought me back to life.

And I was like, dude, what the,
and he thought it was like,

cool and shit.

He basically
kind of, passed out,

and they had to
call an ambulance,

took him to a hospital.

So, that was the real
first wake up call.

That was a couple
months before he died.

It was kind of painful
for us all to go through,

to watch him, kinda,
nosedive at the end.

And as he got into
the hard drugs.

Dude, what
camera have you got?

- I have the same
kinda shit you got.

- No.

- And then I'll use your 35

because I never got to use
your 35, I don't have a 35.

- Okay.
- I only have a 40.

In Atlantic City,
there's no place like Kansas

and a 22 year old woman...

- He always had this attitude
of like, he's always right.

I was angry with
him and I was like,

why are you doing this?

And he just turn
around and he'd say,

well, you know,
I'm dying inside.

I couldn't say anything.

You know what I mean?

I couldn't say anything.

What are you going to say
to somebody, you know,

what are you gonna say?

He started becoming fatalist.

He's like, it doesn't
matter, I don't care.

Which was a shame
because he always cared,

so much, about everything.

You still wanted to,
like, change that

and you knew you couldn't.

- I knew something horrible
was about to happen

and the feeling
just overwhelmed me.

I was doing a shoot in L.A.

and then I just said, you know,

Steve why don't we just
go to Mexico for a week?

And we'll Dave, it's
gonna be his vacation.

Anything you want
to do, he'll do.

- The trip to Los
Angeles was very strange.

It was like being in a dream.

He was just not in his body.

I don't know how to describe it.

Some part of him was leaving.

- He was very uncomfortable
being away from the drugs.

We always had to keep him
close and keep an eye on him.

We would pass pharmacies
and he'd want to go in

and get something and I'd say,

no you can't go in
to the drugstore.

- Dave and I went to
go vintage shopping

and I remember him like launching into the middle of traffic

and I was like,
what are you doing?

I was freaked out, I was
like, what are you doing?

What is going on with you?
I just didn't get it.

It was like he was just
a different, it just,

like, he was just
a different being.

I can't even say person.

It was like a different being.

I remember going back to
the hotel and we decided

to go take some
pictures together.

It was like the one where
I'm flashing my butt.

And there's a picture
of him and I together.

That was the last picture
that we ever took together.

They were going to
take him to Mexico

and I remember them asking
me to go and I just wanted

to go home to Omaha, so bad.

I was so freaked
out by that trip.

That was the last time
that I saw Davide.

So, we went down there
and had a really nice time.

Kind of reconnected a little
bit in our sorta family way.

- And I remembered, the
last shot on his camera,

we were in the water and the
water was twinkling with sun

in his hair and it was,
sort of, threw me off

because it looked
almost magical.

You know and he's smiling
and he's just standing there

with sand in his hand, turns
around and he looks at me

and he's standing
like that for a minute

and I'm like, Dave,
get out of the water.

We have to leave, catch a plane.

He comes out and all of a
sudden there's this big wave.

These fish come out and
he catched this fish

that's about, I'd say, 12
inches and he's holding it.

And I said, throw
it back.

You know, let's go.

And he's like, no, let me give
it to that lady over there

with her little boy.

So, he goes up to her
and he gives her the fish

and she's like ecstatic and
she's going, gracias, gracias.

And then he says, wait a minute,
I have to take a picture.

So he gets his camera and he
takes a picture of the fish,

of her holding the fish.

And that was the last
shot on his camera.

When I got home and
things went weird

and he died the day after.

And a week later, I
developed the film

and there was the last picture.

My saving grace is that my
son's last words to me were,

he went out the door,
and I called his name,

and he turned around, and I
said, Dave I want you to know

that I love you.

And he said to me,
I love you too, Ma.

And that was it and that
was last time I saw him.

And that, for me,
makes it all okay.

- Police called.

They said they'd be at
the house in 15 minutes

and it was like, the longest
15 minutes of my life.

I mean, time was just
completely suspended,

it seemed like a
tunnel, endless tunnel.

They come over and
they said to my mother,

your child is dead.

The first thing that
came to mind was,

thank God, he's safe,
thank God, he's safe.

Which was the fucking
truth, you know what I mean?

It was like, ahh, he's free.

You know, yeah, it fucking
sucks for us big time

but he was free.

He was free.

Woo!

- I know for a fact,
he did not want to die

sick in the hospital.

He had been in the
hospital his whole life,

he was like, I don't want to
die in a hospital, you know?

I don't wanna die like a
sick person in a hospital.

You know?

Just wanna go.

- He was there for me in some

of the darkest times of my life.

He helped me, like, get
out of the darkness.

I remember him, like,
reaching out to me

and saying, dude,
this is not good.

You know, come out and stuff,
come with us, come back to us.

You know, I think a lot of who
I am today is because of him.

- I remember when we
went to the morgue.

He was smiling.

He was like, he was smiling.

And we were all like,

and we all said it
at the same time,

like, was that he's
smiling.

That was like the biggest gift

that he could leave
behind for us.

And he had it his way, you know?

It could only be his way.

Always.

It was always like, okay,
Davide gets his way.

You know what I mean,
you didn't even argue.

When I say we mourned,

like, New York City mourned.

It was like everybody
had a moment of silence.

So, I think that love
obviously affected people

to the point where
it became a thing.

- You know, I'd go
to a photo shoot

and all I would do was cry.

I'd be shooting through tears.

I couldn't imagine
all these mothers

who had lost their children.

I said, what are we a secret
society of people in deep pain?

- We knew people in the industry

and Amy Spindler is a writer
for the New York Times

and knew that Francesca was
concerned about younger kids

in the business
getting into drugs.

And it started
a whole ball rolling.

- You sent sent a strong
message against drugs

at Davide's funeral
to the mourners.

- I said, you cannot
glamorize drugs

and I looked at
Davide, and I said,

this is what drugs
do, this is real,

what you are all doing isn't.

My mother tried to turn it into something positive.

She tried to make
it into an example

so that other young kids
wouldn't fall into that trap

of glamour and drugs, which
still exists today in fashion

and hasn't gone anywhere.

- Davide's death was a
lightning rod for that whole

thing to sort of, just, I
dunno, you know, explode.

Tonight, the
fabulous world of high fashion,

glamour, allure, models,

but behind the scenes some
have shocking secrets.

- Cocaine, heroin--

- I'm getting calls
from CNN, 20/20.

Before I know it, you know,

President Clinton
is making a comment.

- Today the President
blasted designers

who use the heroin look
to sell their clothes.

- In the press, in recent days,

we've seen reports and
many of our fashion leaders

are now absolutely admitting,

and I honor them for doing this,

they're admitting flat
out that images projected

in fashion photos in
the last few years

have made heroin addiction seem
glamorous and sexy and cool.

And as some of the
people in those images

start to die, now,
it's become obvious

that that is not true.

You do not need to glamorize
addiction so close.

- When Bill Clinton
talked about it,

I mean, everybody
was like, what?

This is out of control.

- The glorification of
heroin is not creative,

it's destructive, it's
not beautiful, it is ugly

and this is not about art
it's about life and death

and glorifying death is
not good for any society.

All the sudden
we were just like attacked.

It was bad, it was negative.

We really wanted to try
and mourn in privacy.

It just became like this
huge public scandal.

- All of these people started
turning all of the images

that we had made and they're
like, oh this is the image

of heroin chic.

This image,
more than any other,

has come to epitomize
Davide's association

with a glamorization of heroin.

I distinctly remember
when I posted this picture

that Davide had taken of me.

We were portraying the
idea of people dying

before their time.

- There's always this ideal
that if you blame somebody,

it will fix the problem as
opposed to actually really

addressing the
problem, which was,

you know, why are all these kids

who are 16 to 18,
feeling so despondent

that they have to take drugs.

And it got to
the point where it was,

it was almost like, a panic.

- It kills that whole era
of photography all together.

All the young talent,
that are no longer working

because they can't
find work because,

okay, we cannot do heroin chic

because advertising
wouldn't stand for it.

Instead of nurturing these
people, it all wiped out.

- Sometimes it's so
much easier to say,

oh yeah, my friend died
of a heroin overdose.

But, he didn't die
of a heroin overdose.

He died of Cooley's anemia mix.

'Cause the amount of
heroin that he did,

you and I, if I did
that or you did that

or any one of my friends
done that amount,

they wouldn't pass away.

- As tragic as his death was,

his life to me should
really be a celebration

and it shouldn't
be about drug use.

That's the irony of it all,

that that's what's being
talked about all the time

when it was such a brief
part of the totality

of the relationships and
the totality of the art

that was being created.

I'm so grateful that for
the short period of time

that he was here on this planet,

that I got to partake in
the beauty of his heart

and his soul.

- Davide represented an era
whether he liked it or not,

he did become a poster boy.

I received hundreds of letters
from all over the world

from young kids who were
shocked that he had died

and wanted to know
more about him.

People writing me that
his passing helped them

because they felt that
Dave was like them.

Just a normal kid, who was
creative and got caught up

and they'd stop doing
drugs because of Dave.

His passing saved
so many people.

- But, you know, you
know about his work.

He changed your life.

He changed my life, he changed
a lot of people's lives

and he will continue to do so.

And people will continue
to ask questions,

which is, I think, the
most important thing.

It's not all black and white.

It's not this and it's not that,

it's not one way or another,
it's everything put together

to make a person real.

And I think that's what Davide
was always searching for

was the real, real people,
like he called them,

you're real people,
you're good people.

That's all he wanted in his life

was to be surrounded
by real good people.

And I think he was.

- I think Davide's work was
really a reflection of his time

and his generation and a group
of kids that were growing up

and emerging in New York City.

Was very young, it was
like, at the beginning

of his career, was like,
really the first sprouting

of the seed.

What is it that you
like about documentaries?

- Basically, like, trying
to capture somebody's life

and somebody else's life
but at the same time

they're all close to you.

Kind of like, that quote
in a book called like,

I'll be your mirror.

You know, like, everything
you do reflects on me

and then I have it, you know?

It's kind of like looking
in the mirror, pause,

and there it is and
it's not going anywhere

because you just
have it right there.

You pause time and it's
just fricken' amazing.

It's really rad.

Yeah, I'm gonna
pause time for a second.

- What does that do?

♪ The sound of your laugh

♪ The turn of a phrase

♪ The way that your
smile lit up your face ♪

♪ Your changing mood
and you're in pain ♪

♪ Stubborn ways
threw us all insane ♪

♪ People you touched,
stories you told ♪

♪ You looked so young
but you seemed so old ♪

♪ I remember you, Davide

♪ I remember you far too well

♪ Every day without you

♪ Well, it's a living hell

♪ It's a living hell

♪ The way you slept all day

♪ Gone all night

♪ The way you always thought
that you were right ♪

♪ That mess in your room

♪ And the loud headphones

♪ The way your friends
used to call nonstop ♪

♪ The slang that you used

♪ The way that you dressed

♪ You wanted everyone
to be impressed ♪

♪ I remember you, Davide

♪ I remember you far too well

♪ And every day without you

♪ Well, it's a living hell

♪ It's a living hell

♪ The way you loved to cook

♪ Cameras come for you

♪ This feeling you have
in everything you do ♪

♪ The way you loved to look

♪ The way you loved to ski

♪ The way you loved the fish
and ride waves in the sea ♪

♪ The photos you took

♪ The paintings you made

♪ The stories they
tell will never fade ♪

♪ I remember you, Davide

♪ I remember you far too well

♪ And everyday without you

♪ Well, it's a living hell

♪ It's a living hell

♪ Well, I remember you, Davide

♪ I remember you far too well

♪ And everyday without you

♪ Well, it's a living hell

♪ It's a living hell

♪ It's a living hell