Another day, another multi-million-pound biopic production potentially in the works.
This time – and to be frank, we’re surprised it’s taken Hollywood bigwigs quite so long to get round to it – it could be the turn of Wham! singer and solo superstar George Michael, who sadly passed away on Christmas Day 2016 from heart complications.
According to showbiz reports, the film is still currently in the script-reading stage but is already estimated to cost upwards of £85m, which would put it on an even playing field with last year’s biggest block-busting biopic, Elvis.
And despite being in such preliminary stages, Mailonline reports that writers have already got a star in mind in the form of White Lotus’ Theo James. Fans will know Theo (and his dick) from playing calculating playboy Cameron Sullivan on the second series of the hit show, whose self-serving arrogance marked him out instantly as a potential MURDERER. He also starred as time traveller Henry de Tamble in HBO’s 2022 adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife.
But despite his entirely believable American accent in two of his biggest roles so far, Theo was in fact born and raised just outside London in Hertfordshire town High Wycombe, meaning an shoddy London accent won’t give the game away. Like George, Theo – whose full name is Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis – is of Greek descent, and speaking on a talk show last week about potentially taking on the role of the Carless Whisper singer, said, ‘Oh yeah, I would love that, he’s an icon. He’s a lot of Greek, and I’m a lot of Greek. Put that Greek together, and you get falafel.’
While we can certainly see the resemblance between Theo and a young George Michael, not everyone was quite so enamoured with the prospect, with (current) Queen frontman Adam Lambert tweeting, ‘Yay another straight man playing a gay icon’.
No doubt Adam is referring to the fact that in the last five years, straight actors Rami Malekand Taron Egerton have been cast as Freddie Mercury and Elton John respectively in the biopics Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman.
According to the Mail, a source said, ‘The script is in the final stages and producers are looking for their leading man. Theo's name is the one on everyone's lips. He would be perfect for the part. This is George's story, warts and all.'
Yet despite all the furore, George Michael’s family and estate have made clear they won’t be endorsing a biopic of his life, releasing a statement yesterday which read, ‘To all of George’s Lovelies, fans and lovers of his music, a story has been published stating that George Michael’s family has endorsed a so called "biopic" about his life.
‘On behalf of George’s family and [George Michael Entertainment] we want to make it clear that there is no truth whatsoever in this story, we know nothing about this project and will not be endorsing it in any way.’