Director Richard Lowenstein is in the midst of “quietly casting” for a motion picture biopic of his friend, rock superstar Michael Hutchence. The filmmaker, who is based in Melbourne, Australia, is pushing ahead with the movie, simply entitled Michael, despite there being two other rival projects about the front man of iconic band INXS.
Lowenstein is expecting to start shooting the film late in 2014. The director first met Hutchence in Mackay, Queensland back in 1984, when he was directing the music video for the INXS song “Burn For You”. He went on to direct 15 more music videos for the band and the 1986 movie Dogs In Space, which also featured Hutchence. Lowenstein believes that having been so linked with the singer means that he will be able to show details that even diehard fans may be unaware of.
“An outside director coming along and saying ‘I want to do this Michael biopic’ would just get the story that is already in the papers,” Lowenstein notes. “I’ve been in collaboration with the band and Michael’s closest inner sanctum of friends for quite a while, and no one’s got any problems with my vision or my history with the band and the sense of authenticity.”
Lowenstein says that he is heavily relying on his own experiences with Hutchence and the tales he told about his past, admitting that it is a very personal story in spite of the heavy research done. Lowenstein adds that he has “a few people in mind” to play Hutchence, but would not mention any names.
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