BLOGS
Simon Napier-Bell's movie about '80s pop duo Wham! may be in trouble, according to The Guardian. No, you didn't read that wrong. There is, indeed a movie about Wham! in the works. But the film's future hangs in the balance until George Michael consents to the use of the group's music. According to the article, Napier-Bell "raised doubts" over whether that would happen. A Wham! movie without Wham! music would be like... Do you remember that scene in Amadeus where the performers are dancing around like idiots in silence because Ferris Bueller's principal prohibited music?* Now imagine how much sillier the "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" video would have looked if it had been performed by spastic mimes. Ferris Bueller's principal (aka Emperor Joseph II) eventually saw the error of his ways, but will George Michael?
Napier-Bell, who managed the duo, says the movie would focus on "the band's heyday from 1983 to 1985." Wham! didn't stick together for long, but apparently a couple of years is all you need for a "lavish chronicle of the hedonistic pop duo." On Napier-Bell's own website, he describes a business-like George Michael who, even in the early days, was very focused on the bottom line. Here's some business for Michael to mull over: The film has a budget of £50m. That's almost $100 million bucks, for those of us in the States. It boggles the mind that a Wham! movie could cost so much. (How much do peroxide and a case of those "Choose Life" T-shirts cost? Are they constructing an animatronic Andrew Ridgeley for when the real thing busies himself surfing?) But it seems like any savvy businessman would want a chunk of that, in case he ever got arrested again for being, you know, "hedonistic."
*In real life, Emperor Joseph II had banned ballet, not music. But whatever. It was a movie, not Austrian History 101.
Loading...
Add a comment
Search thousands of recaps and more
BLOG ARCHIVES
The Moviefile
December 2008
9 Entries
November 2008
61 Entries
October 2008
102 Entries
September 2008
86 Entries
August 2008
99 Entries
July 2008
116 Entries
June 2008
95 Entries
May 2008
86 Entries
April 2008
67 Entries
March 2008
14 Entries
Blog Categories
A Festival for the Rest...ival
13 Entries
Accidents Do Happen
39 Entries
Adventures in Fakery
26 Entries
Animation Desensitization
24 Entries
Box Office Tally
47 Entries
Cool Nerds Guide
2 Entries
Director? I Hardly Knew Her!
102 Entries
For Your Amusement (Park)
6 Entries
Foreign Relations
23 Entries
Girls on Film
23 Entries
I Voted for GORE!
53 Entries
I Want My DVD
23 Entries
I've Got Two Tickets to Merchandise
30 Entries
It Came From San Diego
9 Entries
It's a Major Award!
18 Entries
Legal Eaglese
14 Entries
Let's Blame the Media!
42 Entries
Let's Go To The Video!
13 Entries
Lights, Camera... Action Jackson!
43 Entries
Little TV Shows That Done Hit the Big Time
44 Entries
Martial Artistry
4 Entries
Momentous Occasions
18 Entries
Musicalifornication
22 Entries
Obituaries Without Pity
10 Entries
Pros and Controversy
8 Entries
Reviews of Movies We've Actually Seen
27 Entries
Scary Monsters & Super Creeps
11 Entries
Sci-Fidelity
39 Entries
Script From the Headlines!
50 Entries
Separate but Sequel
140 Entries
Strike Watch
13 Entries
Stupid Cinematic Celebrity Sayings
32 Entries
Taste the Reading Rainbow
45 Entries
The Art of the Cannes
6 Entries
The Biz
96 Entries
The Casting Conch
133 Entries
The History, Booooyyyyy!
47 Entries
The Kongs of Comedy
73 Entries
Theatre With an "R" and an "E"
8 Entries
Top of the
0 Entries
Top of the MWoP
4 Entries
Trailer Trashing
22 Entries
Video Games Killed the Movie Star
13 Entries
We Call Do-Over
100 Entries
We Watches the Watchmen
22 Entries
What's Up, Documentary?
3 Entries
You Got Comic Book in My Movie
152 Entries
You Know, For Kids!
55 Entries