Shaun Ryder’s biopic is still in the works – but its makers need new backers.
In 2019, it was revealed that ‘Skins’ actor Jack O’Connell, 33, was to star as the Happy Mondays and Black Grape frontman, 61, in the flick ‘Twisting My Melon’, but director Matt Greenhalgh got himself into a creative disagreement with the movie’s US funders and they now require more funding to get the project off the ground.
Shaun told Classic Pop magazine: “Matt Greenhalgh wrote the script and was gonna direct.
“So we got the money, half-English, half-American and Matt fell out with the Americans. They didn’t want to make the film that Matt wanted to make. They wanted to make a film like all those other biopics, so it had to have a certain bit of this and a certain bit of that. So the American money went and it all went (messed) up really.
Matt’s still working on getting it made, so that’s where he is now. He’s actually just done the Amy Winehouse film (‘Back to Black’, which he’s scripted, but is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson) and I think he’s done about three or four movies since we started getting this one made. So at the moment, he’s just looking for another lot of backers.”
Filming was due to commence in Shaun’s native Manchester in 2020.
The film will be based on his autobiography of the same name, which charts his life, his music, and his part in the Madchester scene.
Other names swirling around the film include Jason Isaacs, who would play his guitar-playing father, Derek, nicknamed ‘Horseman’.
Maxine Peake is in talks to play Linda, Shaun’s mother and Holliday Grainger is in discussions to play Shaun’s girlfriend.