A movie about supermodel Kate Moss and artist Lucien Freud has backing from NZ. Photo / Getty Images
A movie about supermodel Kate Moss and artist Lucien Freud has backing from NZ. Photo / Getty Images
The NZ Film Commission is helping fund a movie about the intimate friendship between supermodel Kate Moss and the late British painter Lucian Freud.
Moss & Freud, which will shoot in New Zealand, depicts 80-year-old Freud painting a nude and pregnant Moss over nine months in 2002, after he read an interview with her in which she said she’d like to pose for him.
The film is the brainchild of leading Kiwi producer Matthew Metcalfe with Academy Award-winning writer and director James Lucas. Lucas pitched the idea to Metcalfe before the pair approached Moss about the project.
Matthew Paton from Christie's auctioneers stands near a nude portrait of British model Kate Moss by Lucian Freud. Photo / Getty Images)
“I was immediately intrigued,” Metcalfe tells Spy. “His take was fascinating and showed a side of the iconic Kate Moss that I had never seen. I am a huge fan of James and greenlit development straight away,” he says.
Once they had the story worked out and they felt confident — they approached Moss.
“We would never tell this story without Kate’s blessing.
“Kate responded warmly and over a series of meetings she came aboard as one of the producers and worked with James to create a script that is both moving and inspiring.”
Gladiator star Sir Derek Jacobi will play Freud and UK actress, Disney+ Willow star Ellie Bamber, has landed the role of Moss.
Ellie Bamber, Sir Derek Jacobi and Matthew Metcalfe. Photos / Getty Images
Metcalfe says Bamber was a choice the director, producer and Moss were enthusiastic about.
“When Kate and Ellie met, they hit it off and we knew we had made the right casting decision. We also discussed Sir Derek with Kate.”
In March, the Film Commission Board awarded conditional funding of $2.8 million to Moss & Freud and the Dan Higgins-produced movie Tinā, about a Samoan teacher who brings joy to a youth choir in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes.
“The NZFC don’t publish specific numbers for conditional offers to projects. We only publish when the offer has closed and the project is set to go ahead,” said a spokesperson for the commission.
The commission’s budget is made up of government funding, Lottery Grants Board funding, income from films, interest and reserves.
“On financing, it’s confidential between all parties — as is normal for all films in pre-production,” says Metcalfe.
“The NZFC contribution is, however, modest. The local industry really benefits from projects like this. Millions of inward spend and great opportunities for our actors and creatives.”
Metcalfe is currently working in Auckland and Wellington on his new sci-fi movie Ash, which stars Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul and Kiwi actors Beulah Koale and Kate Elliott.
Moss and Freud became close while working together; he even tattooed her lower back, using the skills he learned in the navy to ink two tiny birds. His painting was sold in 2005 at Christie’s in London for £3.5m to a collector. Freud, who died in 2011, has also painted Queen Elizabeth and Jerry Hall.
The shoot starts towards the end of this year after Bamber finishes her current project. Metcalfe says filming will be in NZ and in London.
Metcalfe — who worked with Lucas on Whina — is hopeful Moss may visit NZ during the shoot and says after meeting her several times in London that she is always a generous, fun and observant contributor to the process.
“Kate and James get on so well and they have spent a lot of time together bringing the story to life. This is really a story about how a moment in time can come to represent our past, present and future.
“In the story, we meet the real Kate Moss and go on a journey from Kate as a shy young woman to the supermodel and businesswoman she is today.”
Metcalfe is working in Auckland and Wellington on his new sci-fi movie Ash, which stars Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul and Kiwi actors Beulah Koale and Kate Elliott.
