Michael Hutchence.
The man behind many of INXS’s music videos, Richard Lowenstein, is set to direct a documentary about the life of the band’s late frontman, Michael Hutchence.
The feature-length documentary will be produced by Universal Music Group (UMG) and Oscar-winning production company Passion Pictures (Searching for Sugar Man). INXS is signed to Universal Music Publishing Group.
This is the second Hutchence doco in the pipeline, with AAP reporting earlier this month that Sydney businessman Ron Creevey had spent two years working on a film about the singer with LA record producer Danny Saber.
Hutchence was a founding member and lead singer of INXS from 1977 up until his death in 1997.
Lowenstein (He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, Say a Little Prayer) was a close friend of Hutchence, having worked with INXS for many years. He was responsible for a range of the band’s videos including for Never Tear Us Apart and What You Need, and also directed Hutchence in 1986 feature film Dogs In Space.
“I have been working on the definitive documentary film journey into the heart and soul of this complex, shy, poetic and exceptionally charismatic man for many years,” said Lowenstein.
“To be able to embark on this film now with such great partners as UMG, UK’s Passion Pictures, Ghost Pictures, Chris [Murphy] and INXS is extremely exciting and I know that together we are going to tell this story like no one else can.”
UMG’s head of film and television development and production David Blackman called Michael Hutchence “a musical genius who led one of the world’s biggest bands to global stardom, only to succumb to a tragic end. We have assembled an incredible team that is committed to telling Michael’s story and providing the world with a portrait of a man who left behind an enduring musical and cultural legacy.”
Passion Pictures’ John Battsek said, “To know we have access to everyone and everything required to make such a film and the full support of UMG just reaffirms to us all that we can tell this story in the truest and most authentic way possible. That’s why we make documentaries in the first place.”
INXS’s long-time manager and chairman of Petrol Records Chris Murphy has said that Hutchence’s daughter, Tiger Lily, will be a beneficiary of the film’s proceeds.
Creative Artists Agency will represent the film’s North American and worldwide distribution rights.