Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption John Malkovich as Marilyn Monroe - as painted by Andy Warhol

Sandro Miller's new series of photographs of celebrated actor John Malkovich recreating dozens of iconic images was intended in part as a critique of the vapid Instagram style of photo sharing.

Miller, a critically acclaimed photographer with several books and exhibitions to his name, hoped the project would push back against what he saw as social media's degradation of photography as an art form.

The photos in the series Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich were rendered with tremendous care and attention to detail, and the actor-cum-model immersed himself in the project.

But no sooner had they been released did they go viral, appearing on Buzzfeed and across Facebook and Twitter. Malkovich received more than 20,000 mentions on Twitter over the past three days.

Miller talked to the BBC's Anna Bressanin about why the ability to post photos online threatens his medium and about how he and Malkovich created the images that people couldn't help but share.

Miller's show Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich opens on 7 November at the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago.

Photos copyright Sandro Miller, courtesy of the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago.

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