TOM of Filmland

PHILLIP STUART, TOM in Leather, 1985. Tom posing in his new California Highway Patrol motorcycle jacket that he had just received from his California pals.

Finland’s Helsinki-filmi pro­duction company announced at this year’s Toronto Film Fes­tival that it would be making the film biography of Touko Laaksonen (Tom of Finland). Directed by fellow Finn, Dome Karukoski – best known for Lapland Odyssey and Forbidden Fruit – the film begins shooting in December 2014. It’s Karukoski’s first English-language film.

Producer Aleksi Bardy said during an interview with Screen Daily that his company is working closely with Tom of Finland Foundation because it is very important to respect the copyrights for his work as he has been pirated so much over the years.

While Laaksonen and his work have been featured in previous documentaries – such as Boots, Biceps and Bulges and Daddy and the Muscle Academy – this first feature is also to be made with the cooperation of the Foundation the artist created in 1984.

Published: 20th November 2013

Categorised in: Friends of Tom