Mr. Brainwash Talks about Banksy and Exit Through the Gift Shop

Mr. Brainwash has been pretty quiet since Exit Through the Gift Shop has been released and become a successful film nominated for an Oscar. There's been a lot of speculation that the documentary may not be a real documentary at all, that it was all made up and staged. After all, where in the hell has Mr. Brainwash been through all the madness? The question asked is, "is Banksy Mr. Brainwash?" or "Did the clever Banksy, the film's credited director, create Guetta to mock the art world? Is Guetta, who shot much of the footage, actually a paid actor playing a savant-like character invented for the project?"

Since I saw the film, I've stood behind the fact that it's real. Banksy say's it's 100% true and now Mr. Brainwash has finally come out to talk about the film, how it all went down, and where he stands regarding the film’s authenticity. 

So for the first time since the films release Thierry Guetta (Mr. Brainwash) discusses his involvement with Exit Throught the Gift Shop in an interview with The Envelope.

This movie is 100% real. Banksy captured me becoming an artist. In the end, I became his biggest work of art.

He gives me a brush and a can, and he took the camera. ‘Go make your own show and have people filming it.’

So there ya have folks, for any of you that have been doubters maybe this will halp clear things up. Make sure to head on over to the LA Times to read the ful article because gives you a full rundown of Guetta's life, and what things have been like for his lately. 

According to the Times, "Today, Guetta says he and Banksy remain friends. He refused to comment on whether he'd seen him recently in Los Angeles, and said he has no hard feelings about his humble "camera work" credit on a project based on his decade of compulsive filming. In fact, he credits Banksy for helping him overcome the compulsion."