Schnabel calls Robert Hughes ‘a bum’

Julian Schnabel, the artist turned film director, is known for his sensitivity to any form of criticism, constructive or otherwise. So when he was interviewed by Morley Safer on the US current affairs show 60 Minutes, and asked to comment on the critic Robert Hughes's famous quote about his work – "Schnabel is to painting what [Sylvester] Stallone is to acting - a lurching display of oily pectorals - except that Schnabel makes bigger public claims for himself" – the reaction was pretty much what you'd expect.

Staring hard-faced at the camera, Schnabel, who Hughes also dismissed as a "schlockmeister", said of the critic: "He's a bum". Safer then tried to change the subject and talk about his transition from painting to movie-making. It didn't work. "I'm still pissed off about talking about Robert Hughes," Schnabel said.

Seeing this was going nowhere, and maybe sensing blood, the interviewer asked Schnabel whether he had a big ego. "It's been said, definitely," he replied, literally puffing out his chest. "I guess I made the paintings. I guess I made the movies. For a guy to be able to say that, does that mean he's got a big ego. Maybe."

He concluded: "Would you ask Marlon Brando if he had a big ego?"