HBO Bowing Documentary Series ‘Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult’ June 1
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The three-part documentary series “Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult” will debut June 1 on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. The remaining episodes will be available on subsequent Mondays.
Directed and executive produced by Chris Smith, the series chronicles Hoyt Richards, who, at 16 years old, meets an enigmatic Manhattan socialite on a Nantucket beach and is pulled into his spiritual group, Eternal Values. Soon after, Richards ascends to fame as one of the first male supermodels of the 1980s.
Eternal Values, the cult-like group, and its larger-than-life leader Frederick von Mierers, leveraged the glamorous world of 1980s New York to prey upon a community of young models and professionals, seducing them with his New Age cocktail of metaphysical and spiritual teachings, and entangling them in a web of fabrication and exploitation.
Told through intimate, first-person narration, the series tracks Hoyt’s involvement with the group and its charismatic guru. Richards, who met von Mierers in high school, was captivated with his worldly wisdom and teachings on spirituality, love and self-improvement. After graduating college, Hoyt moved into Frederick’s New York City apartment where he became a devoted follower of von Mierers, all while rising to fame as one of the world’s first male supermodels.
As he was drawn further into Eternal Values, Hoyt, now well-paid and well-connected, helped fund von Mierers’ group while living an ascetic lifestyle — sleeping on a mat and sharing the apartment with other devotees. As Hoyt’s story unfolds, the series reveals how von Mierers gained celebrity by claiming to be an alien “walk-in” from the planet Arcturus. His mission was self-realization and he convinced his acolytes to buy expensive “healing” gems that would save them from tribulation, while also encouraging them to recruit attractive new followers.
Incorporating archival footage from the group’s public access television shows, the series reveals how its ideas were presented to a broader audience. Former members describe how the group’s early emphasis on abstinence shifted over time, giving way to pressure to engage in sexual relationships while discouraging emotional intimacy that might threaten the group — an evolution that unfolded in the shadow of the AIDS crisis. As these accounts deepen, questions also emerge about von Mierers, including whether he was who he claimed to be.
Watch trailer video through link below
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