Murtada here with the biopic news of the week.
McQueen at 2006 Met Gala with Sarah Jessica ParkerAfter 45 Years I’d watch whatever Andrew Haigh decides to do next. His follow-up choice though would be exciting even in a vacuum; without knowing any of his previous films. Haigh is going to make a biopic of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen (1969-2010). The movie will be based in part on the biography Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath The Skin, by Andrew Wilson, which was published in the UK last year.
McQueen had a fascinating life which could make for a great film in Haigh's hands. Growing up in a London council flat, his talent took him from Savile Row to Givenchy to his own eponymous design house that continues to thrive. Alongside John Galliano, he was dubbed fashion’s "British enfant terribles". Carrying on the tradition of designers like Jean Paul Gaultier who went against the norm and shocked the surprisingly staid fashion establishment.
Who should be cast after the jump......
Knowing how good Haigh is with thorny relationships whether loving or not, the meat of this movie might be McQueen’s relationship with his mother. McQueen took his own life just a few days after his mother passed away from cancer in 2010.
But how will they re-create the fashion and the beauty? Besides his gorgeous designs, McQueen was known for bold, dramatic and sometimes controversial catwalk presentations. It can be very hard to cinematically render fashion. For instance Bertrand Bonello’s Saint Laurent was criticized in some quarters, for distorting YSL’s fashion legacy. In part that was because they didn’t have the rights to the designs. Let’s hope Haigh has obtained those rights.
I asked on Twitter who should be cast in the lead role. The responses were interesting. Tom Hardy (he can approximate the look), Russell Tovey (he’s already worked with Haigh), Dane DeHaan (has the right intensity but would require quite the physical transformation). An inspired suggestion was a young Toby Jones!! Other characters from McQueen’s life who might appear in the movie are his muses Isabella Blow and Kate Moss.
Who would you cast as Alexander McQueen? As Blow or Moss?