Former Doctor Who star Matt Smith will play one of the most famous photographers of the 20th Century: Robert Mapplethorpe.

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Deadline reports that Mapplethorpe will follow the life and career of the photographer, known for his stark and emotive black and white images of New York subcultures.

The photographer died of AIDs in 1989, aged 42, and is the subject on an HBO documentary – Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures – which recently premiered at the Sundance film festival.

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Smith will be joined by Zosia Mamet (Girls) playing singer-songwriter Patti Smith, Mapplethorpe’s former lover. The film will be directed by Ondi Timoner (We Live in Public) and is being produced in cooperation with the Mapplethorpe Foundation, an organisation the photographer founded to raise money for HIV/AIDS research.

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