There have been a lot of bad casting choices going on lately, and yeah, sometimes it’s hard to find the right person who feels willing to take on the role of someone bigger than themselves, but that doesn’t mean casting directors should settle so overtly. And yet, here we are, saddled with Zosia Mamet as Patti Smith.
One supposes that at least in the case of assigning David Mamet’s daughter/Girls shill Mamet the honor of playing Smith, it will most likely be a somewhat insignificant part in comparison to that of Robert Mapplethorpe’s (to be played by Doctor Who‘s Matt Smith–Smiths abound). Being that the film in question is a biopic about Mapplethorpe called, fittingly, Mapplethorpe, one wonders how much screen time Mamet as Smith can sustain (hopefully very little, but that seems naive).
Apart from the fact that Mamet doesn’t have the delicate gawkiness of Smith, her oafish personality type isn’t in keeping with the rock/poetess’ self-effacing nature either. How Mamet managed to secure the faith of filmmaker Ondi Timoner (best known for the documentary We Live in Public) and The Mapplethorpe Foundation leads one to believe they are, indeed, confusing her for David Mamet, who would actually be a better fit for embodying the ravenesque qualities of Smith.
