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Hari Nef has risen to fame in recent years with roles on TV shows like Transparent and You, and secured a role in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie movie. Now, the 29-year-old actor can add another role to her resume: Candy Darling, the real-life trans trailblazer and muse of Andy Warhol.

Hari Nef, who is playing Candy Darling in a biopic
Hari Nef | Edward Berthelot/Getty Images

Candy Darling was Andy Warhol’s muse

Originally from Long Island, Candy Darling moved to New York City in the mid-1960s, before the Stonewall riots of 1969.

Darling first saw Andy Warhol in 1967 at a popular late-night club in NYC. She was with actor and playwright Jackie Curtis, who was a muse of Andy Warhol‘s at the time. Darling had a role in Curtis’ play Glamour, Glory, and Gold (sharing the stage with a young Robert De Niro). After seeing Darling on stage, Warhol knew that she was a star.

Warhol cast Darling in a scene in the 1968 film Flesh, produced by Warhol; she shared the screen with Curtis in her scene.

In 1971, Darling and Curtis starred in Warhol’s final film that he produced, Women in Revolt.

Darling died of lymphoma three years later in 1974.

Hari Nef is playing Candy Darling in a biopic

A 2010 documentary titled Beautiful Darling highlighted Darling’s life from her childhood to her time in the spotlight. Now, Darling’s life is getting the biopic treatment, as Hari Nef prepares to step into the role of the iconic trailblazing performer.

For her part, Nef couldn’t be more thrilled.

“The dream was always to play Candy, and it is the honor of my life to get the chance to do it,” she told Deadline about her casting. “Candy bridged the gap between her dreams and a reality stacked so consummately against her — a transsexual glamour girl and indie icon reigning over Warhol’s Manhattan and Nixon’s America. She burned fast, and bright. More than anything, she wanted to be taken seriously as an actress.”

Getting to play Darling isn’t just another role for Nef, given Darling’s pivotal place in trans history. “She taught girls like me how to dream — perhaps even how to be at all,” she said. “She’s the blueprint.”

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She’s doing lots of research for the role

Clearly, Nef isn’t taking the role lightly. She’s been deep-diving into research and getting to know Darling as well as possible, including meeting with those who knew her personally, such as one of her best friends, Jeremiah Newton.

“In preparation for the role, I have consulted her friends, her diaries — every frame of celluloid I can find with her within it. I’m calling up theatre archives to read the scripts of the plays she performed downtown! Thankfully, the producers have already amassed a treasure trove of archival riches,” she said. “We’re attacking it! I’m so excited!”

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