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HBO To Air Robert Mapplethorpe Documentary In April
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Dec 4, 2015
Modified Apr 10, 2018
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Dec 4, 2015
Modified Apr 10, 2018
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Late photography legend Robert Mapplethorpe will get his first full-length documentary since his death several decades ago, as announced by HBO today.
The documentary, dubbed Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures is set to air in April, and will focus on his early years in New York—where he studied art at Pratt and entered into a romantic relationship and lifelong friendship with Patti Smith—through his death in 1989 of complications from AIDS. The film will be helmed by Inside Deep Throat filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato—original interviewees will include Brooke Shields, Carolina Herrera, Fran Lebowitz, Debbie Harry, and Mapplethorpe's brother and sister, though footage featuring Mapplethorpe friends, lovers and mentors like Marcus Leatherdale and Sam Wagstaff will be included as well.
You can expect to see quite a bit of exclusive, archived footage from Mapplethorpe's controversial body of work, including snippets from the city's underground BDSM scene in the 1970s—as told by the filmmakers, "Even his most shocking and forbidden images are included without blurs, without snickers — in other words, exactly as the artist intended." If you happen to be in Los Angeles this spring, note that the documentary will run in conjunction with two Mapplethorpe retrospectives, one at the Getty Museum and one at the Los Angeles County Museum Of Art.
Though Look At The Pictures, which is named after Senator Jesse Helms' indictment of Mapplethorpe's work, focuses specifically on the photographer, HBO's not the only premium channel to get into the game. Earlier this year, Showtime announced they'd be airing a miniseries based on Just Kids, Patti Smith's memoir about her relationship with Mapplethorpe during her early years in NYC. Here's some footage of the two in the Hotel Chelsea.
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documentary
HBO
mapplethorpe
patti smith
robert mapplethorpe
Rebecca Fishbein
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