Biopic Request: Boy George For His 50th
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 9:11AM 
On this, the day of Boy George's 50th birthday, we propose a biopic. After all, Hollywood is quite fond of musician biopics what with their formulaic three act story beats: rise from talent-individuality-chutzpah, fall from drugs and debauchery, miniature or major comebacks as the performer finds themselves again.
So why is it that someone as fab and movie-character ready as Boy George doesn't have his own biopic? He's already written all of the wittiest lines for some future screenwriter, being one of the quippiest of '80s icons. He's already conjured the movie's most memorable costumes. He's already even provided a rough draft blueprint with his own autobiographical musical, Taboo (2004).
Now, Taboo was historically not a success on Broadway but we chalk this up to its difficult developmental period, clashing egos and press animosity (sometimes the media just turns on something and there's only a war zone from there). It's not that the show wasn't entertaining enough to be a success. It was actually a fierce show, just an intermittently clumsy overstuffed one. But my oh my the music was good. In addition to Boy George's own discography (formidable, duh) he wrote new songs for the bifurcated musical, which managed to be two biopics in one by juxtaposing Boy's rise with the life of performance artist Leigh Bowery .
The pop star did star in his own biopic but he cheekily played Leigh Bowery instead, so here's a press clip below of the show and his title track performance. [Note: I meant to write about the documentary about this very lively Broadway season Showbusiness: The Road to Broadway (2007) which also charts behemoths Wicked and Avenue Q and the wondrous Caroline or Change but the DVD didn't arrive in time, damnit.]
I remember sitting in the audience in a very cramped Broadway house. The tourist to my left turned towards me at intermission.: "IT'S OVER?!?!?" she said, panicking, clearly new to seeing live theater and there for Boy George himself (she was wearing an old Culture Club t-shirt). I pulled her back from the edge "there's more Boy to come."
For all of Boy George's personal problems, he's a smart enough star to understand his own rise and fall. There's a heartbreaking number in the show called "Out of Fashion" and, yes, Boy George still is. But in this Age of Gaga, maybe pop culture out to rediscover the gonzo theatrical originals that paved the way? There's a long line of "what will they look like next?" superstars before her: Bowie, Boy, Madonna, etcetera...
For extro-music here's Boy's video from pop culture / Oscar milestone The Crying Game (1992).
(That would've have so won the Oscar for Best Original Song had it not been a cover of an oldie.) I haven't seen The Crying Game in far too long, how about you?
Reader Comments (11)
Ewan McGreggor as Boy George :-)
I hadn't heard of taboo before now, Nat, but based on the video I would see that in a heartbeat. Is it too soon after "Priscilla" last year to attempt a revival? It seems like the sort of thing that could get mucked up as a film in the hands of the wrong director and belongs onstage.
The Crying Game is the Godfather Parts I & II of queer cinema. I watch it whenever I'm in the mood. Best example of a movie you have to own whenever the mood hits you. I'm so in love with Stephen Rea: it's sickening.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1597178/ <--- There already WAS one. It was made for British television.
Bryan -- was it any good? i want to see now.
Janice -- it was an ambitious bio (doing two stories simultaneously) but all bios should be ambitious since they're so dull otherwise.
I. Love. Taboo. Gimme a freak, any day of the week. While other theatre geeks practiced belting Idina-style, my friend and I drove around town being fierce.
The idea of Ewan McGregor making a Boy George biopic is too good to be true. Alas...
"The Crying Game"... now there's a movie.
I watched the UK Boy George biopic and can confirm that it is very good indeed. Takes place between his emergence onto the UK London 'scene' and the point where he quit Culture Club. It also features Marilyn (not the real one, but he's a character).
George was quite outspoken about not liking it, but I thought it was excellent (now that he's clean, it seems George is all-of-a-sudden interested in historical accuracy).
The actor playing George was quite brilliant.
In my opinion it was robbed of BAFTA nominations (though as we have a new BBC biopic every two weeks these days, it seems that the British TV Academy is making a stand against easy nominations in biopics!)
Ok so it may be 2 days late but Happy Birthday Boy George. A friend of mine recently turned 50 and I gave her a badge that said "it took me 50 years to look this good". With all George's ups and downs that may do for him as well.
Culture Club were my favourite band of the 80's. I had all the posters, books and newspapers articles ever written about the band (some still survive). I went to a concert in Sydney in 1984 and still have some of the red gold and green shiny bits of paper that dropped from the ceiling during Karma Chameleon.
When I was 15 Boy George taught me about theatricality, longing and tolerance. He taught me that we may all be different but we are all human. He taught me that "time is like a clock in the heart" and that if you hurt someone you can make them cry. I learn't that war was stupid (had the t-shirt) and that "what we need is a great big melting pot". Pop fluff but profound because of who he was at a time when acceptance was craved but rarely bestowed.
okay, boy-george...
I saw the British tv biopic and it was very good.
Marc - When did George say he didn't like it? I don't recall reading anything about that. In fact in many articles in the British press I saw he praised it and said he really liked it and was pictured posing with the actor who played him.