ANDY WARHOL - WARHOL'S CONFIDANTE THRILLED WITH PEARCE'S PORTRAYAL

ANDY WARHOL's longtime confidante, BRIGID BERLIN, was so impressed with actor GUY PEARCE's portrayal of the artist in new film FACTORY GIRL she made him a gift of her phone chats with the pop culture icon. The MOMENTO star spent a lot of time studying Warhol with Berlin and when she felt the Aussie had captured the essence of her late friend, she handed him tapes of phone conversation the two had. Pearce explains, "Brigid Berlin, who knew Andy for 40 years, really allowed me to get underneath the presentation that Andy was always giving in public. "The research material that I had that was the most beneficial was the recorded phone conversations between Andy and Brigid. "Brigid recorded every phone conversation she had and Andy pretty much did the same thing. I have many of those purely for my own private benefit. They were a great insight into who he was." Berlin isn't the only former Warhol cohort who has been wowed by Pearce's portrayal. He adds, "A couple of people who knew him said, 'Andy would be very happy that you were playing him.'"