HBO’s “Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult” debuts June 1

HBO’s three-part documentary series “Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult” debuts Monday, June 1, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will stream on HBO Max. New episodes will air Mondays through June 15.

Directed and executive produced by Chris Smith, the filmmaker behind HBO’s Emmy-winning “100 Foot Wave,” the series examines Eternal Values, a cult-like spiritual group led by Frederick von Mierers, whose teachings drew in young models and professionals in 1980s New York.

At the center is Hoyt Richards, who met von Mierers as a teenager and later became one of the decade's first male supermodels. As Richards rose in his career, so did his devotion to Eternal Values. He moved into von Mierers’s New York apartment, helped fund the group, and lived under its strict rules while moving through the fashion world.

Using first-person testimony and archival footage, the series shows how von Mierers used New Age spirituality, metaphysical claims, and the glamour of the modeling industry to attract followers. Former members describe a world of control, exploitation, and belief, including von Mierers’s claim that he was an alien “walk-in” from the planet Arcturus.

The series features former Eternal Values members Richards, along with Paul Hinton, Dar Dixon, and Elissa Melaragno; models Fabio Lanzoni, John Pearson, and Jacki Adams; modeling agents; and members of Richards’s family.

Episode schedule:

 Chapter 1, “The Promise,” debuts June 1.

 Chapter 2, “The Antichrist Tapes,” debuts June 8.

 Chapter 3, “Mind Games,” debuts June 15.

“Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult” is an HBO Documentary Films presentation of a Library Films production. 

In addition to direction and executive production by Smith, Ryann Fraser also serves as executive producer, with Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Sara Rodriguez as executive producers for HBO.