After directing not only the best debut of 2022, but the best film of that year, with the emotionally piercing, structurally captivating Aftersun, we’ve long awaited word on what the next feature from Charlotte Wells would be. It now seems she’s diving into the current popular trend of the musician biopic, though one imagines with a unique take.
Speaking to the Sunday Times following her 80th birthday, Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry revealed that two films about her life and career are in development: a documentary as well as a biopic, the latter set to be directed by Wells. Harry, whose legendary career spans six decades, also has a casting idea. If it were somebody like Florence Pugh, I would be in heaven,” she told the outlet. “I just think she’s a great actor and she could do anything.”
While there’s been no shortage of recent or upcoming biopics on male artists, from Freddie Mercury to Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen to the Beatles to Michael Jackson, it’s taken longer for a female-led biopic to join the recent trend, with Madonna and Joni Mitchell films on the horizon. Considering there are no other details on Wells’ attachment to the project, there’s no telling when we may see it come to fruition, but it’s nice to hear she’s in development on another film. We’ll have to wait and see if Wells opts to include one of Harry’s most iconic career moments:
Naming Aftersun the best film of 2022, I said, “With an emotional power that broaches the inscrutable, Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun takes a well-observed father-daughter tale and reaches levels of transcendent pain in its final moments. Nearly unfathomable that this is a directorial debut, Wells synthesizes the influences of Denis and Akerman into something that feels entirely fresh, catching moments of deep beauty and immense heartache in a story that is as much about coming of age as it is about the regrets of life. A film that profoundly understands how not being able to find the right words in the moment can, upon years of reflection, necessitate screaming them into the void.”
Watch an extensive interview with Wells about crafting her debut.
The post Aftersun Director Charlotte Wells to Helm Debbie Harry Biopic first appeared on The Film Stage.
