Keith Moon Biopic to Start Shooting in Summer
The Who singer Roger Daltrey appears to have gotten his wish: It has been revealed that a biopic about late bandmate Keith Moon will begin shooting in June.
Variety reports that both Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend are executive producers for the movie, which has the working title The Real Me. “The pic is directed by Paul Whittington (The Crown, White House Farm) with a script from prolific British screenwriter Jeff Pope, who was Oscar-nominated for Philomena,” Variety noted. “Los Angeles-based White Horse Pictures is producing. The outfit is best known for seminal Martin Scorsese documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World, as well as Ron Howard’s Beatles documentary Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years.”
Nigel Sinclair, Oliver Veysey and Jeanne Elfant Festa are named as producers of the movie, along with longtime Who manager Bill Curbishley. Casting has been underway for several weeks, Variety said, although no details were revealed.
Daltrey is thought to have first discussed the concept of a Moon biopic in the early ’00s, with several attempts at making it having taken place since 2013. In 2018 the singer said he wouldn’t be rushed into any decision because he wanted to ensure the result was a “movie, not just a biopic.” In a separate interview, he said casting the lead role is "going to be very, very dependent on the actor and the actor’s eyes … you’ve got to cast it completely from the eyes because Moon had extraordinary eyes.”
He said of the larger-than-life drummer, who died in 1978: “I don’t know whether anybody outside the band really got to know him like we did. He was a strange bunch of people.”