Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister Is Getting A Biopic
Since Motörhead frontman Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister’s death from cancer at the end of 2015, he has been honored many times over: with eulogies from Lars Ulrich and Dave Grohl, a statue on the Sunset Strip, a prehistoric crocodile named after him. Now, like seemingly every other iconic musician, he’s getting a biopic.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Greg Olliver, who directed a documentary on the hard-living heavy metal pioneer titled Lemmy in 2010, will now direct a Kilmister biopic also titled Lemmy. The film will reportedly cover Lemmy’s youth in England, his stints as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and a member of Hawkwind, and his legendary 40-year run as the driving force behind Motörhead.
Casting for Lemmy has not yet begun. It’s scheduled to go into production next year. VMI Worldwide’s Andre Relis and Damon Lane will produce, with Motörhead’s manager Todd Singerman and Steffan Chirazi as executive producers. The screenplay was written by Medeni Griffiths with input from Olliver.
Olliver offered this statement to THR:
Everything you’ve heard about Lemmy is probably true… not because he was embracing rock n’ roll clichés, but because he was creating them. Marlboro Reds and Jack Daniel’s for breakfast, speed for dinner — all true. But behind that steely-eyed façade of rock n’ roll was also a compelling, complicated and lion-hearted man who stayed the course and never gave up playing the music that made him happy. We’ve been carefully developing this biopic since 2013, making sure to stay true to Lemmy, Motörhead band members Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee, and all the other folks that played important roles in Lemmy’s life. This will be a film they’ll be proud of.
So… who should play Lemmy?