Cast This: Patti Smith & Robert Mapplethorpe in "Just Kids"
Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 6:03PM Surprising news broke today that John Logan (Penny Dreadful) has successfully won a behind the scenes battle to adapt the best-selling memoir "Just Kids" as a limited series for Showtime. Why is the news surprising? Well, right here at The Film Experience, as you may recall, Patti Smith was horrified by the idea of this happening in our 2014 interview.
Our exchange went like this...
She appears to have had quite a change of heart as she was emphatic on this point when we spoke and she is still very much among the living!
So since she's changed her mind, it's time for CAST THIS!
Who should play these two iconic American artists in their twenty-something years for the miniseries? You'll need actors who can play raw emotion, uninhibited sexuality and bohemian charisma (For extra credit you can also cast playwright/actor/ex-partner of Jessica Lange Sam Shepard since he was also Patti's lover in the early 1970s and Sam Wagstaff who became Robert's older lover around the same time and his devoted mentor/patron/lover until his death.)
Both Smith and Mapplethorpe were poor 21 year-old transplants to NYC in 1967 (they were the exact same age) and lived together as roommates and lovers and later, he was homosexual after all, as devoted friends until 1974. Their fates were tied together and they both became famous, she as a musician with the release of her debut album "Horses" in 1975. His fame built more gradually as the fame of photographers and artists, tends to.
Photos from the early 70s after the jump... (NSFW)
anyone know who shot these two very famous portraits... the internet never labels anything!
Photograph by Judy Linn
Robert by Judy Linn
not sure who took this one but love it
4 self portraits by Mapplethorpe in the 1970s
a 1969 portrait by Mr. Ziff
Sam Shepard with Patti in 1971
Sam Shepard again 10 years before the Jessica Lange Chapter began
Wagstaff and Maplethorpe, a powerful art world couple until their untimely deaths. Photo by Francesco Scavullo
Reader Comments (33)
She's too old now but Charlotte Gainsbourg would have been good for Patti when she was younger.
Maybe I've just got too much Mr. Robot on the brain, but maybe Rami Malek for Mapplethorpe?
Lylee -- ooh, i can see that. He definitely has the skinny urchin thing going.
If it's limited, could Tatiana Maslany find time for this? Jenny Slate?
Patti Smith- Kristen Stewart, although probably too obvious of casting. Maybe Mia Wasikowska.
Robert Mapplethorpe- Caleb Landry Jones
Sam Shepard- Kentucker Audley
Sam Wagstaff- **and now for likely most controversial choice** Jon Hamm. I believe in a strong, square jaw for the job.
CMG -- hmmmm. Caleb Landry Jones. that wouldn't have occcurred to me but i can see it. (Off to look up this Kentucker Audley person)
call me crazy BUT
Sebastian Stan
Taylor Swift
BAM.
Patty Smith : Jamie Bochert (She's a model but hey, we've seen great model-actresss crossover throughout the years)
Mapplethorpe: Nicholas Hoult
GSHAQ -- YOU CRAZY. there. (actually i can see Sebastian Stan in a weird way)
Kristen Stewart - Patti Smith
Anton Yelchin - Mapplethorpe
Patti Smith-either Jena Malone aka the BEST IN THE WORLD or Ellen Page (who is a big Patti Smith fan).
Robert Mapplethorpe-I agree with lylee on Rami Malek.
Newcomers, please
P.S. Great selection of pics.
Peggy Sue -- remember when newcomers were sought out for biopics? good times.
I like some the casting suggested here, but I am with Patti, why make this into a biopic? Unless the actress who plays Patti is believable as Patti on stage, the whole thing will seem cheap. Even Mapplethorpe could end up looking ridiculous, which is why she used to oppose having it be adapted.
On a completely unrelated note, I finally saw Jurassic World. Well done and exciting, but not much more than that. Why didn't Bryce Dallas Howard push to have her character change into running shoes? Every successful businesswoman has access to all kinds of footwear, and that 50's woman vibe seemed very retro until she got hot and sweaty.
Patti Smith once dream casted Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson herself. Since Stewart is kind of her protégée now, I would not be at all surpised if she wound up doing it.
Charlotte Gainsbourg has to be the only choice.
I actually think -- with a LOT of preparation -- that Emma Stone could be a fascinating and fantastic Patti -- there are similar facial features that could be exaggerated upon.
Aaron Taylor Johnson for Mapplethorpe pls
Lizzy Caplan as Patti!
Rich except for this takes place when Patti was in her twenties
Looking at Pattis face in these photos, it's such a strong face and not in any way dewy, which leads me to the conclusion that the actress playing her doesn't have to be in her twenties
Well I think Charlotte can pull it off just fine. I'm not so literal when it comes to casting.
Not sure if Kristen Stewart would be interested in this as it's for TV, but she is friends with Smith and that would be dream casting for me. She is literally perfect.
People are gonna want to kill me for this, but: finally, a role where Jennifer Lawrence is the right age and approximate facial type. She'd just need to do a little Bale for the weight.
And then cast Bill Skarsgård as Mapplethorpe...
Myskjin -- that's probably true.
Paul -- OOH Bill. I can totally see that face. So many good ideas for RM in this thread. But jennifer lawrence is so round faced! I can't see it (but yes age-appropriate)
How is Lou Doillon's English I wonder? She certainly has the look down, as a younger version of Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Nat - you're right about the roundness, and unfortunately the only way to lose it is to do the thing that JL has tried to be a role model against...
Rebecca Hall is just a little past the age when this would be taking place, but I think she'd make for a fascinating Patti Smith.
Not that I'm necessarily advocating it, but this feels like the kind of project James Franco would jump at.
Also, Garrett Hedlund as Sam Shepard.
Don't care about the age, gainsbourg would be amazing.
Like the idea of Lizzy Callan too.
Off the wall but what about someone like Krysten Ritter.
I like biill skarsgard and katherine moennig.
I could see Rooney Mara pulling off Patti Smith - she has that defiant chin and attitude. Saoirse Ronan could also work with a dye job - she's got an edgy energy and that killer stare. I feel like my brain is missing somebody more obvious/better - most of the people who spring to mind are a little too old for it - Charlotte Gainsbourg was definitely the obvious choice for so long.
To me it's: Charlotte Gainsbourg (She can play any age, she can play ANYTHING) & Taylor Kitsch (He's gorgeous (just like Mapplethorpe & prove recently that he can act) ....
Second the Rooney Mara for Patti Smith recommendation.
Rooney Mara as Patti Smith
And Kristen Stewart as Mapplethorpe
I can help with some credits. The top 2 of Patti and Robert (in their apt at the Hotel Chelsea) are by Norman Seeff, 1969. Patti and Robert on the balcony (of the Hotel Chelsea) is Gerard Malanga, 1971. The first of Patti and Sam Shepard (Sutter's Bakery, NYC) is by Judy Linn, the second (back to the balcony of the Chelsea) is by David Gahr. As you note, both of these are 1971.
re: Em: "Patti Smith once dream casted Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson herself." Interesting, if a little odd because Kristen is so short and Patti so tall, but RP's resemblance to RM is eerie. I think it would have worked!