Watch: Russell Tovey Narrates Moving, Sexy Portrait of Late Artist

Russell Tovey is crazy about contemporary art, writes the French LBGTQ website Tatu. This is likely why the hunky, out British actor, known in the States for his roles in two HBO series, the prescient "Years and Years" and the gay drama "Looking," participated in a moving short film about the late, queer artist David Robilliard, conceived by filmmaker Joe Ingham.

"The project entitled 'Baby Lies Truthfully' is built from excerpts from the book of the same name but also from other works by the author, such as 'The Cat's Pajamas' and 'Swallowing Helmets,' writes Tatu. "Works in which Robilliard explored sex as much as the deep feeling of loneliness that inhabited him."

Robilliard died at the age of 36 in 1988 from complications from HIV. While little known in his lifetime, his career was championed by artists Gilbert and George, who met him in 1979 and employed him as a model. In 1990 they wrote about him:

"David Robilliard was the sweetest, kindest, most infuriating, artistic, foul-mouthed, witty, sexy charming, handsome, thoughtful, unhappy, loving and friendly person we ever met. Over the nine years of our friendship, David came closer to us than any other person. He will live forever in our hearts and minds. Starting with pockets filled with disorganized writings and sketches, he went on to produce highly original poetry, drawings and paintings. His truthfulness, sadness, desperation and love of people gave his work a brilliance and beauty that stands out a mile. Not a day passes without our thinking of David. His works live on for us all as a spiritual, cultural force and a great lesson in human love."

For the film Ingham told LoverBoy Magazine that he wanted to "select works which would showcase David's range,' Joe says, 'he could make you laugh and cry in the space of a few lines. It's an ability few poets or writers possess..."

What attracted him to Robilliard's texts were their relevancy. "They were arresting and raw," he told LoverBoy. "I couldn't believe that the book had been published in 1991, thirty years ago. You could have told me they were by an up and coming writer and I would have believed you..."

But they are also poems about a specific time and place – the height of the AIDS epidemic. When he was diagnosed with HIV, he took to introducing himself as David RobiiliAIDS. He was not going quietly into that good night, and his was a talent to unsettle as much as it was to amuse," writes a review of "Baby Lies Truthfully" on the website CultureClash.

Ingham knew that Tovey was a serious fan of contemporary art and reached out to him to see if he would be interested in narrating his project. "Russell then took the script which I'd developed and took it into directions I didn't even know were possible," the filmmaker told LoverBoy. "It's bizarre because this was done remotely during lockdown. It's been revelatory to make something so quickly and just put it out without getting bogged down in rehearsals or waiting for distribution. Russell is amazing – like David there is a complete absence of ego."

For their part, Gilbert and George designed a poster for the project: