Nicholas Galitzine has been cast to star in an upcoming biopic about Hoyt Richards, who is widely considered to be the world’s first male supermodel.
While specifics about the biopic’s plot have not yet been revealed, Variety reports that filmmaker Gus Van Sant will direct the project. The two-time Oscar nominee is best known for Good Will Hunting and Milk.
Galitzine, 31, first gained widespread attention with 2023’s Red, White & Royal Blue, in which he played Prince Henry. He also earned recognition for his role in the miniseries Mary & George. Moviegoers can currently catch him in Masters of the Universe and The Sheep Detectives.
The actor can next be seen in Netflix’s Peter Berg-directed historical sports drama The Mosquito Bowl. He is also expected to return to the role of Prince Henry in the sequel Red, White & Royal Wedding.
In the late 1980s, Richards, now 64, emerged as one of the most recognizable faces in men’s fashion. At his peak, he was the highest-paid male model in the world, working with brands like Versace, Ralph Lauren and Valentino.
Richards is currently being featured in the HBO docuseries Bring Me the Beauties, which delves into his involvement with the Eternal Values cult. The organization was led by Frederick von Mierers, who claimed to be an alien consciousness in human form and played a role in kickstarting Richards’ modeling career.
The model, who donated millions of dollars to the organization, initially dismissed the idea that he was in a cult.
He did, however, eventually come to understand the reality of the situation and came to terms with it.
Richards recently told People that accepting the truth was “absolutely crushing” for him. “This whole idea that I resisted for so long and now it’s so obvious. Cults really create this environment of ‘you need to isolate,’” he said.
“And that’s where they can keep this cultic bubble around you so you’re not getting outside sources of conflict,” he added.
He further noted that his initial “highly uninformed and basically ignorant” point of view actually “protected” him.
“I really was my own worst enemy in that sense where the main criteria I used to tell myself that this can’t be a cult was the fact that I was in this group and the fact that I, in my self-image, I would never join a cult,” Richards said.
