DIRECTOR HAS DESIGNS ON RICHEY’S STORY
T HE life of missing Manic Street Preachers rock star Richey Edwards is to be made into a movie. The biopic, which is currently in development, will be titled 4Real and directed by Lindy Heymann.
The title of the film refers to the infamous incident in 1991 when the talismanic lyricist carved the words “4 Real” into his arm while being interviewed by then NME journalist Steve Lamacq; Richey disfiguring his arm to prove a point to the music writer who hadn’t been convinced of the authenticity of the Welsh firebrands with a penchant for an outrageous statement. As yet there is no news about who will play Richey.
Lindy, who has directed more than a hundred music videos working with such names as Paul McCartney, John Lydon, Sinead O’Connor, David Gray, The Charlatans, Suede, Leftfield, The Specials and Faithless, won awards for her directorial debut with the movie Showboy in 2002.
Her most recent project was The Laughing King, which touches on the sensitive subject of male suicide.
Lindy will be joined on the project by writer Thomas Martin, alongside producers Stephen Malit and Alexandra Stone. The film has received backing from Creative England’s emerging talent fund.
Speaking to the website http:// montsebrumedia.com, about forthcoming projects, Lindy revealed she hoped filming on the biopic would begin next year. She said: “I have two feature films in the pipeline – 4Real a portrait of Richey Edwards from the Manic Street Preachers which we hope to shoot next year and Rum Doxy Diver, a romantic adventure which tells the tale of Grace Hammer, a feisty, female pickpocket set in Victorian England.”
February 1, 2020, will represent 25 years since Richey’s disappearance, a story which still endures as one of the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll mysteries.
News of the biopic follows the publication of a new book about the iconic rock star, published in March. Withdrawn Traces: Searching for the Truth About Richey Manic sheds fresh light on events surrounding his disappearance, unearthing a number of new clues in the case.
It is the first book written with the full co-operation of Richey’s sister, Rachel Edwards, testimony from his closest friends and unprecedented access to Richey’s extensive personal archive of diaries, artwork, essays, photographs and letters from his childhood, schooldays, university and beyond.
As the authors pieced the book together they saw a pattern emerge that suggested a possible life in exile –a trail of new information they believed may be enough to convince even hardened sceptics Richey may have planned his disappearance.
The facts surrounding the case are well-known. Richey was 27 when he disappeared on February 1, 1995, on the day of a promotional trip to America, vanishing from his room at The Embassy Hotel in London.
His car was later discovered near the Severn Bridge, fuelling the belief that the musician – who had a history of self-harm, anorexia and alcoholism – had taken his own life.
His body was never found, but he was legally presumed dead in 2008.
As alleged sightings of Richey have been reported in such places as Goa, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura through the decades, some credence has been given to the theory he staged his own disappearance to escape his troubled life.
Writing the foreword to the book, Richey’s sister Rachel Edwards, said: “I was 24 years old when I last saw my brother. 24 years have passed since the day he went missing. I have been without him for half of my life. I am almost the same age my mother was when her son disappeared.”
Her heartfelt words are all the more poignant as both Richey’s parents passed away not knowing what became of their son.