Producers behind the upcoming biopic on
the life of Robert Mapplethorpe on Friday released the first trailer
for the film.
Mapplethorpe, who is best known for his
controversial homoerotic photographs, died in 1989 at the age of 42
from complications related to HIV/AIDS.
Matt Smith (Dr. Who, The Crown)
portrays the legendary photographer in Mapplethorpe, which is
scheduled for a March 1, 2019 release.
“The film depicts Mapplethorpe’s
life from moments before he and Patti Smith moved into the famed
Chelsea hotel, home to a world of bohemian chic. Here, he begins
photographing its inhabitants and his newfound circle of friends
including artists and musicians, socialites, film stars, and members
of the S&M underground. Mapplethorpe’s work displayed eroticism
in a way that had never been examined nor displayed before to the
public,” a synopsis of the film states. “Exploring the
intersection of his art, his sexuality and his struggle for
mainstream recognition, Mapplethorpe offers a nuanced portrait of an
artist at the height of his craft and of the self-destructive
impulses that threaten to undermine it all.”
In the trailer, Smith's Mapplethorpe is
heard saying: “Photography, it's about light. It's about
composition. It's about the personality of the subject. I'm an
artist. I would have been a painter but the camera was invented.”
Marianne Rendon plays
singer-songwriter-poet Patti Smith, with whom Mapplethorpe had an
intense but tumultuous relationship as he struggled with his
sexuality.