A George Michael biopic is reportedly moving forward Per The Daily Mail,With a budget that will cost upwards of $100 million, the plan is for the movie to cover Michael’s career from his Wham! days to his later success as a solo artist. It’s unclear who’s working on the film, but it’s coming with the endorsement of Michael’s family.
Word is that Michael’s personal struggles will not be “glossed over” in the film either, acknowledging his drug addiction and other scandals. The idea is to tell Michael’s story “warts and all,” and as the screenplay gets wrapped up.
“The script is in the final stages and producers are looking for their leading man,” an unnamed source involved with the film was also quoted.
Michael, who sold more than 120 million records worldwide, is one of the most revered and accomplished singers of all time. In addition to his high sales, Michael has won a slew of awards for his music, including Grammys, American Music Awards, Brit Awards, and Billboard Music Awards, among others. The singer died of heart disease in 2016 at the age of 53.
Many other biopics have been getting made after the smash success of movies like Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, and, more recently, Elvis. A new biopic about Whitney Houston was recently released in theatres while several more are in the works for other music legends. That includes new movies for names like Buddy Holly, Amy Winehouse, Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Dylan, Snoop Dogg, Madonna, Sublime, Milli Vanilli, and George Clinton, among others.
George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963 in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England, UK his father Jack is from Patriki in Cyprus.. He went to the Bushey Meads School where he would meet Andrew Ridgeley, who had similar aspirations to become a musician. They both were part of a short-lived ska band called Executive, before they went on to form the pop group Wham! in 1981. They released their first album entitled “Fantastic” in 1983, which reached #1 on the UK charts and produced a number of UK Top 10 singles such as “Young Guns”, “Wham Rap!” and “Club Tropicana.”
Their second album, “Make It Big,” was released in 1984, and was a massive hit, certified 6x platinum just 10 weeks after the album was released. “Make It Big” featured hit singles, “”Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” (No. 1 in the UK and US), “Freedom”, “Everything She Wants”, and “Careless Whisper.” The group split up in 1986, after releasing a farewell single “The Edge of Heaven,” and a singles compilation. George Michael would go on to have an incredibly successful solo career, with his first album “Faith” debuting in 1987, featuring the hit single “I Want Your Sex,” which was quite controversial at the time. His follow-up album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” arrived in 1990, with Vol. 2 debuting in 1992. He has sold more than 100 million records worldwide throughout his career.
White Lotus heartthrob Theo James has been tipped to play George Michael in an £85 million biopic about the Wham! singer.
Oxford-born James, 38, has become one of Hollywood’s hottest stars thanks to his performance as a philandering husband in the second series of the hit show about the guests and staff at a resort hotel.James – real name Theodore Taptiklis – is of Greek heritage. His paternal grandfather, Nikos, fled Athens in 1941 as the Nazis invaded.
