Directed by Oscar-winning director James Lucas and executive produced by Kate Moss herself, Moss & Freud will narrate the unlikely relationship that blossomed between the supermodel and late painter.
Titled Moss & Freud, the biopic will be a dramatised portrayal of an experience Kate Moss considers one of the most significant of her entire career — her nude portrait session with the acclaimed British painter Lucian Freud in 2002. Aptly titled Naked Portrait 2002, the nearly life-size work auctioned for £3.9 million at Christie’s.
The relationship between Moss and Freud transpired when Moss expressed her desire to be painted by the aged artist. Freud, grandson of Sigmund Freud himself, decided to paint the model in an intimate encounter upon reading the interview, leading to a longstanding relationship between the pair. Despite Freud being notably anti-celebrity, he followed through on the wish for nine months while a then-pregnant Moss sat for the painter seven days a week, from 7 pm to 2 am. Alongside painting numerous nude illustrations of Moss, Freud was also responsible for two of the supermodel’s tattoos.
“Sitting for Lucian was an honour and incredible experience,” Moss said in a press release. She went on to praise Moss & Freud’s director, James Lucas: “After watching The Phone Call, I knew that James would convey the emotion in the storytelling in a fitting way, one this memoir deserves. Having been involved in the project and script development from the beginning, I am now very excited to see the film come to life.”
Executive produced by the model with the aid of the Lucian Freud Archive, the script for Moss & Freud was composed in Freud’s studio and will be filmed mainly around his famed Holland Park studio in London. “In many ways, I believe all paths led me to make this film,” said Lucas in a press release. “Its topography, emotional and psychological drama, bohemianism, beauty, characters and artistic process all align with my life and the way I have lived it. So much so, I symbolically began writing the screenplay in Lucian’s studio, the scent of his oil paint still lingering in the air. I’m grateful to Kate Moss and the Freud Estate for entrusting me with this precious and unconventional love story”.