April 25, 2025 The Newspaper Serving LGBT Los Angeles

Gay L.A. COLUMN – Who Is Michael Childers?

The photographer, whose work is being exhibited at the ONE Archives, has always turned his lens toward gayness.

One could argue that film and photography had queer origins from the start. One of the earliest Edison films features two men waltzing to a tinny photograph record. Likewise the history of the still image is full of male nudes, studies, from Eadweard Muybridge’s studies to Mapplethorpe’s more explicit images. The Hollywood photographer Michael Childers finds himself somewhere in between these styles. While his work isn’t exploitative or pornographic, it does tend to gaze tenderly upon the male form in a way that feels daring for its time.

Childers, whose work is currently on display at the USC ONE Archives in West Hollywood until January, has been working in and around Hollywood since he was a UCLA student in the 1960s. He got involved with film and filmmaking early, and was able to use his passion as an entryway into the world of the 60s and 70s subculture of queer artists headed by none other than Andy Warhol himself.

“[Childers] went to New York as an assistant to his new love interest, John Schlesinger, to shoot “Midnight Cowboy,”  which earned the British filmmaker the Academy Award for best director in 1970,” according to Palm Springs Life magazine. “Childers’ role was to photograph the actors in action, but he also turned Schlesinger on to the city’s underground culture. They frequented Max’s Kansas City, which was popular with artists, including Warhol and his entourage.”

He got to capture the Warhol crew, including proto-Fabio Warhol subject Joe Dallesandro, and to move onto the cream of Hollywood during the fascinating intersection of the new and old guards. Childers started shooting early enough to catch young stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jane Fonda and late enough to get older stars on their way out: Mae West and Groucho Marx among them.

The current exhibition takes a look at Childers’ later, more experimental work following the Warhol years. Inspired by the work of sculptor Henry Moore and queer filmmaker Jean Cocteau, the “Distortions” series, as titled by ONE Archives, was “produced over the course of three years and featured participating subjects from a range of racial, sexual, and gender identifications.”

There are few living artists whose work shares the scope of Childers’, perhaps due to the fact that Hollywood, as a subject, shows more starkly and stunningly the passage of time than a series of landscape portraits taken over the same 60-year period. Hollywood, especially the Hollywood landscape of the lost, semi-experimental 1970s, showed Childers how to look at bodies differently. His portraits of stars from Paul Newman to Denzel Washington show a male vulnerability that isn’t often in evidence, either in traditional studio portraits or glamorous fashion spreads. What Childers has been trying to find from behind the lens is a kind of emotional truth to his male subjects that can only be exposed through their physicality. Call it old fashioned, call it idealistic: It’s moving just the same.

Related Posts

Cinespia Returns to Hollywood Forever With Cult Classics and a David Lynch Tribute

April 22, 2025

April 22, 2025

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Becomes a Moviegoer’s Paradise Once Again Cinespia, Los Angeles’ beloved outdoor cinema series, will return to Hollywood...

Academy Announces Major Changes for 98th Oscars, Including AI Rules and New Casting Award

April 22, 2025

April 22, 2025

Academy Now Requires Viewing All Nominees to Cast Final Ballots The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has unveiled...

Film Review: The Shrouds

April 17, 2025

April 17, 2025

By Dolores Quintana Canada’s cinematic maestro of body horror’s newest film is The Shrouds. While it is not a traditional...

Jack Black Confronts ‘Minecraft’ Mayhem with Surprise Theater Appearance

April 16, 2025

April 16, 2025

Black’s Surprise Appearance Follows a Week of Wild Audience Behavior Actor Jack Black unexpectedly appeared at an AMC Century City...

Village Roadshow Files for Bankruptcy Amid Warner Brothers Legal Battle

March 17, 2025

March 17, 2025

From Joker to Chapter 11: Production Company’s Legal and Financial Freefall Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, the independent production company based...

Things to Do: New Movies Opening This Weekend: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror and More

March 6, 2025

March 6, 2025

What’s Hitting Theaters This Weekend—Including Indie Gems at Lumiere Beverly Hills Moviegoers have plenty to choose from this weekend as...

Oscars 2024: Biggest Winners, Surprise Upsets & Conan O’Brien’s Hilarious Hosting Debut

March 2, 2025

March 2, 2025

Independent Films Shine and Conan O’Brien’s Warm and Witty Hosting Made It a True Celebration of Cinema By Dolores Quintana...

Oscar Nominee Spotlights at the Academy Museum: Exclusive Screenings & Panels

February 20, 2025

February 20, 2025

Get an Inside Look at the 2025 Academy Award-Nominated Films With Special Series The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will...

Oscar Nominations Unveiled: Historic Firsts, Record-Breakers, and Conan O’Brien to Host the 97th Academy Awards

January 23, 2025

January 23, 2025

Actors Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang Make Early Morning Announcement Actors Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang unveiled the nominees for...

Nikki Glaser Hosts Historic 82nd Golden Globes, Kicking Off 2025 Awards Season

January 5, 2025

January 5, 2025

Demi Moore Earns Her First-Ever Win, Setting the Stage for Surprises  The 82 Annual Golden Globe ceremony took place on...

Memoria Offers a Thought-Provoking New Year’s Eve Option in Beverly Hills

December 30, 2024

December 30, 2024

Join a Special Screening of Tilda Swinton’s Acclaimed Film at the Music Hall For those seeking a unique way to...

Film Review: The Brutalist

December 24, 2024

December 24, 2024

By Dolores Quintana Filled with grandeur as stark as the Brutalist architecture designed by László Tóth, The Brutalist is epic...

Film Review: Nosferatu

December 22, 2024

December 22, 2024

By Dolores Quintana Claws encased in a velvet glove. The audience helplessly feels Death’s wings enveloping the characters. Robert Egger’s...

Werewolves: Steven C. Miller’s Thrilling New Film in Theatres December 6

December 5, 2024

December 5, 2024

Watch Interviews with Star Frank Grillo and Director Steven C. Miller   What if a supermoon could unleash humanity’s darkest instincts?...

Gotham Awards Spotlight LGBTQ+ Talent with Wins for Vera Drew and Colman Domingo

December 3, 2024

December 3, 2024

LGBTQ Artists Deliver Heartfelt Speeches as They Take Home Top Honors The Gotham Film & Media Institute celebrated the 34th...