It’s been 30+ years since Wham! made it big, so it’s about time a movie was made about George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s successes as Wham!
According to the Express:
“It will be the story of Wham! from the early days right the way through to their huge success as one of the biggest bands of the 1980s,” said a source.
“It is very early days but the film is in production and they are casting at the moment for actors to take the role of George.”
Could this be Simon Napier-Bell’s Wham! movie talked about in 2008? Simon Napier-Bell (along with Jazz Summers) was one of George’s managers during the later Wham! days, having pulled off Wham!’s historic trip to China. From the Guardian:
“There are several people sniffing around my Wham! film,” he said, “but I’m not sure any of them will come off because they all require Wham! music in them and George controls that. He will have the yes or no on each script presented. George would want control.”
The film, which would concentrate on the band’s heyday from 1983 – 1985, is said to be budgeted at £50m, though it’s unclear whether this would include a fee for music copyright. Michael has yet to comment.
Simon Napier-Bell, the manager of Wham! in the mid 1980s who masterminded the historic Wham! trip to China, later directed “George Michael: Portrait of an Artist” (Amazon Ad) in 2023. It includes interviews with Stevie Wonder, Sanandra Maitreya, Stephen Fry, Kenny Goss, Chris Cameron, Rufus Wainwright, Piers Morgan, and Jo Whiley.
More information is available at the official site for George Michael: Portrait of an Artist.
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About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
