Kate Moss’ close relationship with Lucian Freud at the center of an upcoming biopic

Not every week goes by without the announcement of an upcoming biopic. While two features about Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson have been revealed, it’s now Kate Moss’s turn to have a movie dedicated to her. The supermodel is the main target of a latest biopic directed by the Oscar- winning British director James Lucas and centered on her relationship with German- born British painter Lucian Freud, who did a portrait of her while she was pregnant. Titled Moss & Freud, the film shall be set in London within the early 2000s, when Kate Moss was living quite the rock’n’roll life. The style icon shall be played by Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals, Willow, The Serpent) – chosen by Kate Moss herself – and Lucian Freud shall be interpreted by British actor Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius). Kate Moss shall be a part of the project as she is going to produce Moss & Freud with the support of the Lucian Freud Archive. In a press release, the so-called “twig” explained: “As that is such a private story of mine, it has been essential that I be involved with James (Lucas) in all features because the project has developed. I’m thrilled by the recent casting and excited that the film will begin shooting soon. I cannot wait to see it.”

This announcement also pertains to events involving the British artist Lucian Freud, who died in 2011, to whom the National Gallery in London has devoted an exhibition until last January and whose artworks’ value continues to rise at auction. His Naked Portrait (2002) of Kate Moss sold for nearly 5 million dollars within the early 2000s. Today, this amount barely represents the estimated price of his paintings that can go under the hammer at Christie’s on February twenty eighth.

An unlikely friendship between a fashion star and a painter

In 2002, Kate Moss was on the apex of her profession and had turn into some of the influential supermodels, having helped to create this phenomenon. Yet, in an interview with Dazed & Confused, she revealed that one goal on her bucket list hadn’t been ticked off: posing for the painter Lucian Freud. The 82-year-old artist would often ask his subjects to pose in front of his easel for months and, attributable to an absence of availability in his schedule, Kate Moss had not been capable of turn into his muse. However the publication of that interview prompted Bella Freud, the artist’s daughter and shut friend of the model, to rearrange a gathering between them, which eventually led to the concept of the portrait.

Although they’re each British, two eras and two worlds appear to separate Kate Moss and Lucian Freud, an artist with a raw and realistic touch. Nonetheless, they built a surprisingly close friendship from the early 2000s until the artist’s death in 2011. While the painter born in 1922 devoted himself to portraiture, representing the faces of his inner circle from the Nineteen Forties onwards, Lucian Freud also painted essentially the most notorious figures of our modern times. In a dark and carnal palette and with a stroke that pushes realism to the intense, his brush has lingered on the features of great British figures slightly than superstars, from his artist friend Francis Bacon in 1952 and Queen Elizabeth II for her Golden Jubilee in 2001, which caused a stir because she looked older than she was, to David Hockney a yr later. Nonetheless, he refused to color the Pope, in addition to Lady Diana, whose glamorous image was too strong for the raw nudity of his paintings.

A surprising painting that establishes Kate Moss as a up to date art icon

A yr after he invited the Queen of England to his studio, Lucian Freud welcomed the 28-year-old supermodel Kate Moss, whose face and body were on the front page of each magazine world wide. The duo met several times every week for nearly nine months before giving birth to a portrait that made a long-lasting impression, and yet appears to be forgotten now. If the biopic Moss & Freud will give the audience an update in regards to the culture clash between a sulphureous fashion icon and a serious world-renowned artist, it’s going to also revive the memory of an unprecedented friendship. For the highest model has already posed and can pose again with many renowned artists – Gary Hume in 1996, Tracey Emin in 2000, Banksy in 2005, Takashi Murakami and Marc Quinn in 2008… In all these artworks, her beauty is under no circumstances marred, unlike in Freud’s Naked Portrait, which is far cruder, more realistic, and whose depiction was only possible due to their close relationship.

Kate Moss lies naked on a bed, lustful, her legs half-spread, her arm casually resting on a white pillow, her head bent. Her body is sort of unrecognizable, because the model was pregnant along with her daughter Lila Moss. Her silhouette is stretched by the alternance between light and dark beige touches, while her face, cleared from her hair, is way more ringed and wrinkled than in her photos printed on glossy paper. Just one detail confirms the topic’s identity: the mole on her right breast, the supermodel’s virtue. Contrasting with the sexy and sexualized photoshoots of the young Kate Moss, her body almost appears heavy here, massively laid down on the mattress and devoid of any sensuality, despite the crude nudity of her position.

Sold for several million dollars in 2003 by Christie’s to an anonymous buyer, the portrait of Kate Moss sealed the start of a detailed friendship. This friendship will remain engraved on the model’s lower back with a tattoo of two swallows drawn by Lucian Freud himself. The model has been joking about this anecdote because the artist’s passing, and suggested in quite a few interviews that she would have a skin graft with a purpose to sell it if she ever ran out of money…

No release date is thought yet for the upcoming biopic Moss & Freud.