Ben Whishaw, Rebecca Hall star in ‘Peter Hujar’s Day,’ a look into 24 hours of the photographer’s life in 1970s New York City

In Ira Sachs’s latest film, “Peter Hujar’s Day,” Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall star as photographer Peter Hujar and writer Linda Rosenkrantz in an intimate conversation recounting the previous 24 hours of Hujar’s life.

“I read a book that was based on a transcript of a conversation that took place in 1974 between the photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda. Reading it, I felt a great intimacy with these two people and also with the nature of their friendship,” Sachs explained to On The Red Carpet.

Whishaw “really loved Peter Hujar. But I didn’t know about this transcript. I didn’t know about this document of this conversation,” he reveals.

Hujar was an influential queer artist in New York in the 1970s and early ’80s, known for his black and white portraits. In 1987, at age 53, Hujar died of AIDS, leaving behind a prolific body of work.

The film, set entirely in Linda’s Manhattan apartment, “recreates that long-ago afternoon and the wonderfully discursive exchange between these two singular individuals. As the photographer vividly describes interactions with leading cultural figures of the day, including Allen Ginsberg and Susan Sontag, as well the challenges of living on limited financial resources in ’70s New York,” reads the synopsis.

“I think he’s one of the great actors working right now, without question,” Hall says of Whishaw. “So, the opportunity to like, get to play his friend and watch him perform was high on my reasons to take this job.”

Whishaw echoed the same sentiments. “We just were lucky that we really got on and really liked each other, and enjoyed each other’s company and just enjoyed talking to each other.”

Given that the 76-minute film is just about “talking to each other,” Hall recognizes how important the format was to recounting the conversation.

“It’s sort of ostensibly mundane on some level, but in its just, framing of the everyday and the normal, and also they happen to be extraordinary people, Peter Hujar being one of the great American photographers ever, it takes on this sort of poetry.”

“Peter Hujar’s Day” is playing in select theaters nationwide.