HBO Doc to Profile Artist Robert Mapplethorpe

NEW YORK: HBO Documentary Films has prepped Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures, marking the first feature-length doc about the artist Robert Mapplethorpe since his death more than 25 years ago, to debut exclusively on HBO in April 2016.

The documentary comes from acclaimed filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (Inside Deep Throat; HBO's Wishful Drinking and The Eyes of Tammy Faye) and is produced by Katharina Otto-Bernstein (Absolute Wilson). The filmmakers received complete and unprecedented access to The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and were able to draw upon archival materials and never-before-seen photographs and footage. The doc also features rediscovered audio interviews with the artist himself.

Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures comes as The J. Paul Getty Museum and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art prepare landmark Mapplethorpe retrospectives (both opening in March).

"Even his most shocking and forbidden images are included without blurs, without snickers—in other words, exactly as the artist intended," said Bailey and Barbato.