DOCTOR WHO WILL PLAY ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE IN NEW BIOPIC
By James Branson
Matt Smith, best known for playing Doctor Who before he handed the reigns to the wonderfully sweary Peter Capaldi, has signed on to play photographer, Queer-icon and Patti Smith’s bestie Robert Mapplethorpe in a new biopic titled, rather appropriately, Mapplethorpe.
Directed by Ondi Timoner, best known for her work on the absolutely fucking brilliant documentary about The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols, Dig!, the film will feature Zosia Mamet as Patti Smith – in a drastic departure from her best-known role as the nervy Shoshana in Girls.
Look, I’m not going to lie here: this news article is just a thinly-veiled excuse to talk about Robert Mapplethorpe. The guy is one of the most important Queer artists of all time, with a body of work portraying gay life and the underground BDSM community during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
He was also one of the most controversial artists of his era, with his portrayal of homoeroticism well ahead of its time.
In 1989, his solo exhibition, Robert Mapplethorpe: the Perfect Moment, which featured images of urophagia, BDSM, and a self-portrait of the artist with a bullwhip up his butt, attracted the attention of the US censor’s office and became a cause célèbre for both sides of the American culture war. His work had been the recipient of government funding, and in 1990 a gallery showing Mapplethorpe’s work was charged with obscenity.
His 1986 exhibition Black Males also attracted controversy for its depiction of black men in erotic poses.
Mapplethorpe died in 1989 due to complications from HIV/AIDS.