possible movie(s) in the works

-- Tom Kalin and Christine Vachon have signed a contract with Addis Wechsler & Associates (sex, lies, and videotape; The Player; Drugstore Cowboy) to put out the film.

-- They want Joaquin Phoenix (To Die For, Inventing the Abbots) as Mapplethorpe. No word on a possible Patti.

-- Patti and Jack Walls both consulted on the screenplay and have seen the finished product. Walls says now he and Patti are both pulling their support of the project because they did not like the screenplay.

-- Walls says he and Patti are shopping for a new producer.

-- Patti says she really doesn't want to be involved in a movie project. "I have nothing against Tom Kalin and I'm not involved in any controversy. I just want to protect Robert's image, which is, to me, a beautiful one. On principle, I am opposed to movies about artists."

-- Kalin is not aware that Patti has pulled support.

-- Patricia Morrisroe is mad because Universal let the option expire on her book. The rights to her biography are now up for sale. Morrisroe was working with Alek Keshishian (Truth or Dare).

-- Sources say that Patti and Jack Walls approached Keshishian (who is no longer working with Morrisroe) about reconsidering the project.

-- Keshishian vows he is not interested. Kalin proclaims "There's only room for one Mapplethorpe movie, and that's going to be mine."

older news: a mention of patti in the "reality check" section of the november '96 esquire is here quoted in its entirety:

upset over an on-again, off-again film project about robert mapplethorpe, rock singer and former mapplethorpe lover patti smith has become a consultant on ANOTHER mapplethorpe film, one she feels will portray the late photographer in a more favorable light.

a film based on patricia morrisroe's mapplethorpe biography has been in the works for several years. the biography was blasted by smith, who claimed that she could "not recognize [mapplethorpe] from what patricia had to say." morrisroe, for her part, described her experience interviewing smith as a "nightmare." (some claim, however, that smith was simply jealous; in his final days, mapplethorpe chose morrisroe as his biographer partly because, the theory goes, he felt the writer looked somewhat like the singer.)

now former mapplethorpe confidant jack walls (no relation to this columnist) is working with director tom kalin on a screenplay about the photographer's life, focusing on his love affair with smith. it's tentatively titled "somebody's sins" -- a lyric from one of smith's songs. "i showed patti the first draft, and she got back to me and said to go ahead. she's working as an adviser and consultant," says walls, who adds that smith may even do the music for the film. walls says he is approaching joaquim poenix about playing mapplethorpe and parker posey about the smith role.

"its a coming-of-age film," walls says. "it's about his and patti's relationship and about the whole process of him coming out. it's got a lot of the s&m and all the madness and drama."

well, who wasn't a little over the top in the seventies?

in an interview on npr, independent filmmaker christine vachon said that she and tom kalin are working on a movie about patti and robert mapplethorpe. previous joint vachon/kalin projects include swoon (about the leopold and loeb relationship and murder case), i shot andy warhol, and go fish (lesbian romantic comedy). for more info on these filmmakers, see tom kalin's filmography and christine vachon's filmography.