Jack O'Connell (Skins) is in advanced stages of negotiations to play Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder in new biopic Twisting My Melon based on Ryder's autobiography of the same title.

The independent AGC Studios will fully finance and co-produce Twisting My Melon their CEO Stuart Ford announced on Friday 6 September 2019 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Jack O’Connell to star as @Happy_Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder (@officialswr) in musical biopic for AGC Studios (exclusive) #TIFF19 https://t.co/2AJT8pJFAD pic.twitter.com/8r7Ns9imWl

— Screen International (@Screendaily) September 6, 2019

Jason Isaacs (The OA, Hotel Mumbai) is being lined up to play Derek "Horseman" Ryder with Holliday Grainger (Patrick Melrose) as Ryder's girlfriend and Maxine Peake as his mother.

Matt Greenhalgh (the writer of Control) co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Knott and William Ash and will direct and produce the film.

The film is scheduled to go into production in January 2020.

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Synopsis

"Brother. Son. Poet. Film Star. Rock 'n' Roll Legend. Since childhood, all Shaun Ryder ever wanted to do was play in a rock band like his father, a local working-class guitar hero dubbed the "Horseman". Soon his drive and one-of-a-kind songwriting skills catapulted him to front man of Happy Mondays, the iconic 90s British rock band that would come to define a new cultural era. But success challenged Shaun and his relationship with his father in a riotous cautionary rock fable, set against a musical and cultural revolution whose impact can still be felt today."

Labels: film, Happy_Mondays, Shaun_Ryder, Toronto_Film_Festival

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