The Best 80s Band Is Getting A Biopic Movie
Frankie Goes to Hollywood will soon be featured in a biopic titled, Relax.
The era of musician biopics continues. As reported by Deadline, a feature film about the rise of 80s pop sensation Frankie Goes to Hollywood is on the way. The film is set to star It’s a Sin actor Callum Scott Howells in the role of the group’s frontman, Holly Johnson.
The biopic is titled after the Frankie Goes to Hollywood 1983 hit “Relax.” The director of the single’s music video, Bernard Rose, will return to direct the biopic. Rose is best known for helming 1992’s Candyman and 2015’s Frankenstein.
“Relax” was the biggest single that Frankie Goes to Hollywood ever released, but the song was banned by the BBC in their home of the UK for its open celebration of homosexual love. Despite that, the song became the sixth best-selling single in UK history and hit the number 10 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
The screenplay, adapted by Rose from Holly Johnson’s memoir A Bone In My Flute, explores the origin and impact of “Relax.” The film is also said to have the cooperation of Universal Music, which retains the rights to the Frankie Goes to Hollywood discography.
The project will be up for sale on the Cannes market in the coming weeks. Music biopics are hot ticket items, and buyers are reportedly already interested in the film.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a disruptive and wildly successful act in the 80s. Natives of Liverpool, the band formed in 1980. Along with “Relax,” the group had hits like “The Power of Love” and “Two Tribes,” which rocketed them to be one of the top acts in the country through the decade.
Rose recalled that, in 84, Frankie Goes to Hollywood outsold Madonna, Prince, Duran Duran, and Michael Jackson. “Their epic rise, bringing the then deeply underground S+M and LGBTQ club scene screaming into the limelight, is the energetic and moving story of underdogs that win one for the ages,” Rose said. “I want to bring that innocent and daring world of 1984 back to life for a new audience today…”
Frankie Goes to Hollywood burned bright and fast. Their hit songs and cultural inspiration were cut short when the group disbanded in 1987. The split is said to have taken place after a major fight among the band before a show at Wembley Stadium.
The band played together again for the first time since the split on Sunday, May 7, 2023, to help kick off the Eurovision Song Contest. It seems the band has put their differences aside to see the story of their music come to life.
40 years later, Frankie Goes to Hollywood is still a radio staple. The band’s relatively short time making music had a lasting impact on the music industry and the fringe community they helped into the mainstream.
Bernard Rose described Frankie Goes to Hollywood as having “the wit of the Beatles, the power of the Rolling Stones, and the outrage of The Sex Pistols.” That is one potent mixture, and the legendary band has the hits to back it up.
Now the band will make good on its name with a Hollywood movie. The story of Frankie Goes to Hollywood has yet to go into production, but with the film’s batch of ingredients, it is only a matter of time before a buyer swoops it up and gives the green light. Until then, Frankie Goes to Hollywood fans can sit back and do what they have always done – relax.
