A Keith Moon biopic is in the works. Variety reports that a film based on The Who's drummer is on track to start filming in Britain over the summer. The biopic is tentatively titled "The Real Me," based on a song on the Who ablum Quadrophenia, and has band members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend on board as executive producers. Paul Whittington (The Crown, White House Farm) is directing using a script by Jeff Pope (Oscar-nominated Philomena).
Daltrey has spent many years trying to get a biopic about Moon off the ground, so it's significant that the long-gestating project now has plans to start shooting. No one has yet been cast in the role of the movie's Keith Moon, but the casting process is said to be months deep. The Who's longtime manager Bill Curbishley will also produce with Nigel Sinclair, Oliver Veysey, and Jeanne Elfant Festa.
“It’s going to be very, very dependent on the actor and the actor’s eyes,” Daltrey said in 2018 of who needs to play Moon, per BBC 6Music. “Because you’ve got to cast it completely from the eyes because Moon had extraordinary eyes.”
He separately told GQ: "Keith lived his entire life as a fantasy. He was the funniest man I’ve ever known, but he was also the saddest; I’ve seen Keith in some terrible times. I saw him at his height, but then I saw him at his lowest. Keith is someone I love deeply, but who was a deeply troubled character.”
Keith Moon joined The Who in 1964. The legendary drummer is known for his talent on stage as well as his hard-partying lifestyle behind the scenes. After making a tremendous mark on music history, Moon died from a drug overdose in London at the age of 32 in 1978. Bassist John Entwistle died of a cocaine-inducted heart attack in 2002, leaving Daltrey and Townshend as the final surviving members of the classic lineup of the band.
Musician Biopics Are Becoming Much More Common
More and more musician biopics have been coming out in recent years. Based on the success of films like Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody, there are plenty more that are already in the works as well. Some of the many musicians and bands to have biopics coming up include Ronnie Spector, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, The Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne, Jerry Garcia, David Bowie, The Beatles, Bob Marley, Cher, Bob Dylan, Celine Dion, and Amy Winehouse.
Just recently, it was also announced that Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe would be playing "Weird Al" Yankovic in a bizarre comedy biopic. In this case, the biopic takes plenty of creative liberties by depicting Yankovic as living a hard-partying lifestyle, not so different from Keith Moon, a stark contrast to the person Yankovic is known to be in real life. While it may not be the most accurate take of a celebrity's life, the biopic certainly sounds like one to watch in any case.
A release date hasn't yet been set for the Keith Moon biopic.