Michael Hutchence Gets His Own Depressing INXS Biopic
If you want to win an Oscar these days, all you need to do is strap on some spangly shades and pretend to be a dead singer. How much that's got to do with the announcement of a Michael Hutchence INXS biopic remains to be seen.
Slide Away, the long-rumoured biopic of Michael Hutchence – the singer with rubbish 1980s Australian band INXS who died by hanging himself with a belt from a hotel door while he was having a wank – is finally looking as if it'll start rolling into production sometime soon. How many people will actually want to go and see Slide Away is another matter, though – after all, everyone knows how it ends.
The announcement of a Michael Hutchence biopic is hardly surprising – literally everyone who has ever even looked at a microphone in their lives are getting the biopic treatment. Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan and Missy Elliott are all having their lives scrubbed up into jumped-up TV movies that will inexplicably get nominated for an Oscar, so why not Michael Hutchence too? After all, his life was pretty perfectly mapped out for a movie: sing a shit song, shag Kylie, sing a shit song, shag Paula Yates, die in a hotel with a belt around your neck and your knob in your hand. What more could you ask for?
Slide Away, for that's the title of the Michael Hutchence biopic, has been floating around for a while – so much so that Johnny Depp has already decided he doesn't want anything to do with it – but now it looks like it's definitely going to happen, since producer Clark Westerman has recruited music video director Nick Egan to take charge of things. Westerman says:
“I said, ’Somebody else is going to do it, and they are not going to do it as well as you would because you knew him so well.' [The wank death] is not the memory of what we are after, and that’s not the story of who the man is. What we are aiming for is the journey through a person’s life via their head.”
According to reports, Slide Away has had a troubled conception since the production involved gaining the cooperation of the family and trust of Michael Hutchence, and presumably finding funding for a vanity project about a singer in a terrible band who people mainly know about because he died while he was wanking was tricky too. Apparently Clark Westerman and Nick Egan are now sifting through the INXS catalogue for the soundtrack. Hopefully they're not looking for a half-decent tune, because they'll have a long wait.
Read more:
INXS' Hutchence Due For Film Treatment – MSNBC
[story by Stuart Heritage]
hi there, i just read your blog on the new michael hutchence movie and noticed that your opinion of inxs music is very low. what are your prefered bands of interest that have real tallent?
regards,
michael
what a shame you can’t see what the rest of the world does. Just do me one favour. Go to any MH website and read what Michael meant to his fans across the globe.
He was an amazing singer, songwriter, performer and was on his way to becoming a very talented actor.
And please do share who you think is a worthy band?
Yes, it is a shame that you have absolutely no idea the talent this man had. He was a beautiful soul full of amazing creativity. Michael Hutchence along with INXS have so many fabulous songs that have made many people happy. If you had a ears and eyes perhaps you would have seen the talent this man and the band had. I can’t beleive you woul think that few people care about “Slide Away” I for one would love to see the movie…there are many fans that do still care and love Michael.
Yes, please do share with us what your idea of a ‘good’ band is. I’m not a Michael fan (as my name implies, I prefer Tim) but I do recognize the man had talent! He was his own writer and performer. What, to you, represents true talent?
How many times does this have to be explained? Michael Hutchence did NOT die while engaging in autoerotic asphyxiation. The official coroner report clearly states that there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE to support this claim. None.
In addition, there’s plenty of evidence that he was horribly depressed, on a cocktail of anti-depressants and had just finished a huge fight with Bob Geldof and Paula Yates prior to his suicide.
This rumor about Michael dying while “having a wank” is pernicious and despicable. It’s only repeated by lazy, ignorant people who haven’t done their homework. I’m looking at you, Stuart, you douche nozzle.