Just when you thought we might have run out of musicians to make biopics about, news has arrived of another one in the works.
Following in the footsteps of Queen, Elton John, Aretha Franklin and countless others to have their musical lives retold on the big screen, Birmingham new wave band Duran Duran have announced plans to release a film charting their career.
Talking to the Sun, the group’s drummer Roger Taylor confirmed that a biopic is “under discussion”, with “different scripts and ideas put forward”.
“We haven’t quite decided on the right one yet,” Taylor added. “But there are things in development so we will see where they go. We would love to do something like that and I think something will happen in the next few years.”
There’s no word on who would play Taylor and his bandmates, although the drummer said whichever actors came on board would have to have “the right look, the right vibe, and that’s going to take some time to find I think”.
That the band is involved seems like a crucial factor in any success the film might have, as it means the biopic will likely have the rights to use Duran Duran’s back catalogue in the soundtrack — which isn’t always the case.
Biopics over the years have been plagued by disputes over access to the artists’ music, which has meant that a number of films — from the Johnny Flynn-starring David Bowie biopic Stardust, to the story of Morrissey’s early years, England Is Mine — have had to go ahead without any of the actual songs.
It’s not always a deal-breaker in terms of quality — the 2013 Jimi Hendrix biopic, All Is by My Side, managed to generate some fairly positive reviews despite featuring none of the legendary guitarist’s classic tracks — but it was a relative flop at the box office. It probably isn’t a coincidence that two of the most commercially successful biopics of recent years, Rocketman (£145m at the box office) and Bohemian Rhapsody (£658m) had unfettered access to the discography.
Duran Duran won’t be the only ones hopping on the biopic bandwagon, either, with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse all in line for filmic retellings of their lives and careers in the coming years.
In the more immediate future, Duran Duran have a chart battle on their hands, with their most recent album Future Past going toe to toe with Elton John’s Lockdown Sessions for the number one spot this week.
