Trailer release: “MAPPLETHORPE”
Samuel Goldwyn Films just dropped the trailer for MAPPLETHORPE today!
MAPPLETHORPE is the biopic of controversial firebrand artist/photographer Robert Mapplethorpe directed by two time Sundance winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner.
This movie was 12 years in the making if you can believe it (thankfully only about 8 months for me) and an undeniable passion project for the filmmaker and producers. This was a particularly exciting film to work on for me because I’ve collaborated with Ondi on film and TV projects for several years now and this marks her first entree into scripted narrative as opposed to documentary. Spoiler alert, she nailed it.
The film begins with Mapplethorpe’s fateful meeting of Patti Smith in 1968 and spans until his death from AIDs in 1989 so it was quite a swath of musical history to work with.
Check out the trailer and Spotify playlist below!
I really loved music supervising this film because it was like a little musical journey across 3 decades and I got to dig pretty deep into the underground disco and pre-disco and gay leather/rave scenes of NYC in the late 60s/early 70s as well as it's afro-funk influences and the 1960s soul funk that pre dated even that. And then of course the gothy brit-pop and proto punk of the early 80s. Those are 3 of the most musically rich decades in American history and finding just the right music to underscore a heavy emotional film like this ( WITHIN THE BUDGET) was no easy task.
I think my colleague (and music supervision legend) Sharal Churchill and I pulled some magic out of the bag with this one so you’ll forgive me the pats on our collective backs here but please enjoy this absolute FIRE period playlist below. I hope you have as much fun listening to it as we did curating it!