Late Motörhead frontman and legendary musician Lemmy Kilmister is getting his life story told in an upcoming biopic. Called, Lemmy, the film will be directed by Greg Olliver, who also previously directed the 2010 documentary of the same name. VMI Worldwide’s Andre Relis and Damon Lane are producing, with Motorhead manager Todd Singerman and Steffan Chirazi executive producing. VMI will also introduce the film to potential buyers at the upcoming virtual Cannes market, and production will likely start in early 2021.
Written by Medeni Griffiths with rewrites by Olliver, Lemmy will follow Kilmister’s life as a “vanguard and talisman of the loudest, dirtiest and most liberated rock ’n’ roll band in the world.” The film will also follow Kilmister’s early life in England, which includes his “early experiences as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix, and his time with psychedelic rock back Hawkwind (with whom he spent five years before being fired for erratic behavior).”
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Of course, this all leads in to Kilmister’s biggest claim to fame when he created Motörhead in 1975. Known for their unique sound heard in hit songs like “Ace of Spades,” Motörhead has since been established as one of rock music’s most influential groups of all time. Lemmy would go on to perform with the band for the next four decades until his death in 2015, and because he was irreplaceable, the remaining members would disband the group soon after.
Via The Hollywood Reporter, Olliver also had this to say about the upcoming Lemmy biopic:
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.
Now, let the speculation begin as to who might be playing Lemmy in the new biopic. That topic has already been approached in the Lemmy documentary. In a clip from the doc, a handful of celebrities discuss their choices for who would make a good Lemmy, and that includes such names as Johnny Depp, Sam Elliott, Robert Downey Jr, and Matthew McConaughey. You can take a look at that video below.
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