Get in tune with these 14 upcoming music biopics
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Melody masters reimagined on the big screen
Will these music biopics hit the right note or turn out tone-deaf? See our list of 14 upcoming movies that chronicle the iconic lives of famous musicians, and who's set to star in them.
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Leonard Bernstein
From A Star Is Born to Leonard Bernstein, Bradley Cooper is staying in the music genre for his next big directorial effort. The multi-hyphenate will direct and star in a Leonard Bernstein biopic, Maestro, about the conductor and composer behind West Side Story, Peter Pan, and more. Cooper co-writes the Netflix film with Josh Singer (Spotlight), while producing with, among others, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Carey Mulligan is set to co-star as Felicia Montealegre, wife of the iconic composer.
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Bob Dylan
Timothée Chalamet is expected to play Bob Dylan in an as-yet-untitled film from Searchlight Pictures. Directed by James Mangold, the film takes place in 1965, when the folk legend made a controversial shift to rock & roll and the electric guitar. However, in an interview with Collider, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael revealed production is on hold due to COVID-19.
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Boy George
Boy George is yet another musical icon to get the Hollywood treatment, with MGM producing the biopic and Sacha Gervasi (Anvil: The Story of Anvil) writing and directing. The as-yet-untitled project will follow the singer (born George Alan O'Dowd) from his early years in England growing up in a working-class Irish family through his rise up the pop charts as part of the group Culture Club in the 1980s. Sophie Turner has said she'd like the part, with Boy George admitting, "When I was 17, I would have loved to have been her."
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Marianne Faithfull
Lucy Boynton is trading one music biopic for another. After appearing in Bohemian Rhapsody, the British actor is set to executive produce and star as singer Marianne Faithfull in Faithfull, directed by Ian Bonhôte. Set in mid-1960s London, the movie will chronicle the highs and lows of Faithfull's career after being discovered as a convent schoolgirl at 17, becoming a pop idol, her tumultuous romance with Mick Jagger that inspired some of the Rolling Stones' greatest songs, and being a homeless drug addict in Soho. "I am delighted that my story is finally being made with my dream team of Lucy, [producer] Julia [Taylor-Stanley] and Ian," Faithfull said.
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Michael Jackson
It should come as no surprise that Michael Jackson is finally getting the biopic treatment. Graham King, who produced the Oscar-winning Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, has acquired the rights to Jackson's music and is set to make a film based on the pop legend's life. Collaborating with King is screenwriter John Logan; the two previously worked together on Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator.
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Bee Gees
Graham King is a busy man—he's also developing a biopic about the Bee Gees along with Steven Spielberg. Once director John Carney will helm the currently untitled film, with a script by John Logan. The movie will likely follow the trio of brothers—Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb—and their journey from humble beginnings in 1958 to reaching global fame after working on the soundtrack for the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, penning iconic tunes like "Stayin' Alive" and "More Than a Woman." Paramount and King purchased the life rights to the Gibb family estate, and thus will be able to use the group's biggest hits in the movie. Barry is the sole surviving member of the group, as Maurice and Robin died in 2003 and 2012.
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Teddy Pendergrass
Six-time Grammy nominee Tyrese Gibson is taking on the life of R&B icon Teddy Pendergrass in a biopic written by Little Marvin, with Donald De Line (Ready Player One), Lee Daniels (Precious), and Gibson producing. Pendergrass' widow, Joan Pendergrass, is also on board as an executive producer. "This is the role that I feel I was born to play," Gibson said. "Teddy Pendergrass embraced me and, before he passed, put the responsibility on my shoulders to tell his story."
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono
An adaptation of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's epic love story has been in the works for years. The script was written by Bohemian Rhapsody scribe Anthony McCarten, while Ono herself was attached to produce. Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) had been expected to direct and edit before his death in 2021. There has been no other news about the project, but we still hope it will come together some day.
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Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse's family announced back in 2018 that the iconic singer was getting a big-screen biopic, with proceeds from the film reportedly benefiting the Amy Winehouse Foundation. The Winehouse family will serve as executive producers on the film, Back to Black, which has been written by Matt Greenhalgh and will be directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson. "We now feel able to celebrate Amy's extraordinary life and talent," the singer's father, Mitch Winehouse, said. "We know through the Amy Winehouse Foundation that the true story of her illness can help so many others who might be experiencing similar issues."
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Gucci Mane
Rapper Gucci Mane (real name: Radric Delantic Davis) is getting a biopic from Paramount Players and Imagine Entertainment, based on his memoir, The Autobiography of Gucci Mane. Imagine's Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins will join Mane and Todd Moskowitz in producing the film about the trap house artist who started his career by releasing mixtapes while in prison.
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Bob Marley
Bob Marley is expected to be played by Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami) in a new biopic about the reggae music trailblazer. The Jamaican singer-songwriter died of cancer in 1981, but in his short life he changed the legacy of reggae forever. Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard) will direct the biopic with input from the musician's son, Ziggy Marley.
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Madonna
Who better to make a movie about Madonna's life than Madonna herself? The iconic singer is set to direct a biopic about her life, having co-written the script with a collaboration from Oscar-winning Juno scribe Diablo Cody. The still-untitled Universal film is rumored to star Julia Garner in the lead role and will also be produced by Madonna and two-time Academy Award nominee Amy Pascal (Little Women). The film is expected to follow the entertainer's rise to prominence as the culture-shaping musician, actress, director, author, and entrepreneur she is today. Sara Zambreno and Madonna's longtime manager, Guy Oseary, are on board as executive producers as well.
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Lemmy
Lemmy, a.k.a. Ian Fraser Kilmister, the lead singer of Motörhead who passed away in 2015, is getting a biopic from someone who knew him well—Greg Olliver. The filmmaker spent several years with the band for their 2010 documentary, also titled Lemmy. The movie will follow Kilmister's early life in England, his time as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix, and the five years he spent with rock band Hawkwind before he went on to create Motörhead, forever changing the future of rock music. Motörhead's manager Todd Singerman and Steffan Chirazi will serve as executive producers for a screenplay written by Medeni Griffiths along with Olliver.
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Heart
What's better than a biopic about an iconic female-led rock band? A biopic about an iconic female-led rock band written and directed by another iconic female rock star. Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein is set to write and direct a biopic on the rock band Heart for Amazon Studios. It was Heart guitarist Ann Wilson herself who revealed on SiriusXM's Volume West that "there's [a film] in the works" about her band, best known for late '70s and early '80s hits like "Crazy on You" and "Barracuda." Wilson added that she "saw the first draft of the script, it's really cool… The script started in childhood and ended up in the '90s." Casting is currently underway for the roles of Wilson and her sister, Nancy Wilson.