In recent years, music lovers have been treated to a number of movies about some of the world’s favourite music legends. Now, another new biopic is on the way.
It has just been announced that new film about Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder is in the works, and we couldn’t be more excited.
The biopic, titled Twisting My Melon, is based on Ryder’s 2011 autobiography of the same name and is also a lyric in one of the band’s most well-known songs, Step On.
English actor Jack O’Connell is reportedly slated to play Ryder in the biopic and perform the Happy Mondays songs in the film. Meanwhile, Maxine Peake is in talks to play Ryder’s mother. The film will be directed by Matt Greenhalgh, marking his directorial debut.
Happy Mondays formed in 1982 in Manchester and subsequently became one of the most prominent groups in the ’90s Manchester and acid house scenes. The biopic will no doubt follow Ryder’s life from a young rocker, to the formation of Happy Mondays, as well as Ryder’s struggle with drugs, in particular heroin, which led to the break-up of the band in 1992.
Speaking about his inspiration for the biopic, director Matt Greenhalgh said:
“Shaun and the last true working-class band – the Happy Mondays – mainlined into my musical DNA when I was 16 years old … Ryder is the son of John Lennon, Johnny Rotten with a few kilos of John Belushi stamped in.”
Production is reportedly scheduled to begin January 2020 in Manchester.
