Boy George: I won’t be using sanitiser..
Biopic ‘will be honest’
BOY George says a movie about his life won’t pull any punches – and will be far grittier than films on hellraisers Freddie Mercury and Elton John. The Culture Club frontman has vowed not to sanitise his film after almost 40 years of highs and lows.
That suggests there’ll be more sex and drugs than in biopics about Sir Elton and Queen singer Freddie as the Karma Chameleon star is revealed in all his colours. George, 58, says Hollywood’s MGM Studios bosses have asked him to be “crazy and bold” – and the performer says he wants to “push more buttons”.
His writing partner and movie director Sasha Gervasi reveals: “George has thrived on his authenticity, the fact he has been so ruthlessly, almost alarmingly honest. I think the film has to reflect that.
“We’re hoping to embrace that and push it a little bit farther than it was in those other films. It’s a little bit tougher, the Boy George story, a little bit less polished.”
George was crippled with heroin addiction in the 1980s. A fellow musician was found dead at his London home in 1986 after taking the drug.
In 2008 he was convicted of the assault and false imprisonment of a Norwegian male escort.
In Elton movie Rocketman, a sex scene between the star and his then manager John Reid was shot from a distance. Fox Music, meanwhile, toned down Mercury’s love life so Bohemian Rhapsody could be rated PG-13.
Gervasi, 54, hopes that the George biopic will be R rated, where under-17s are accompanied by an adult.
He adds: “Jon Glickman who runs MGM said, ‘Be dangerous, be crazy’. People want original films.
“You have to be truthful. At the same time, you don’t want to alienate people if you go too far.
“But we’ll err on the side of the more provocative. George is unapologetic in the best possible way and I’m excited to reflect that.”