The Making of Drugstore Cowboy 25 years old

Portland, 1988. Filmmaker Gus Van Sant shoots Drugstore Cowboy, the project that will bring he and his collaborators a formidable burst of mainstream attention. Starring Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, and Heather Graham, the film follows a roving quartet of drug addicts — and, consequently, drug thieves, especially from the businesses of the title — who wash up in Portland's then-gritty Pearl District. A death among their own spooks the leader of the pack into trying to clean up, and an encounter with a sepulchral junkie priest does its part to convince him further. Or maybe we should call him a Junkie priest, portrayed as he is by a controversial cameo from writer William S. Burroughs. "I'm going back to the old days," Burroughs says of his role early in the above documentary on the making of Drugstore Cowboy. "The old days when they used to give people morphine in jail. The old days before the methadone programs."

Credits

The Making of Drugstore Cowboy Cast

Name	Character
Matt Dillon He was 35, now 60 years old
Gus Van Sant He was 47, now 72 years old
William S. Burroughs He was 85, 83 years old when he died

The Making of Drugstore Cowboy Crew

Name	Department
Laurie Parker as Producer.	Production
Cary Brokaw as Executive Producer. He was 48 (now 73) years old	Production
Michael Gillis as Post Production Supervisor. He was 50 (58) years old when He died	Crew