As 1960s icons go, it’s hard to beat Marianne Faithfull when it comes to bohemian Flower-Power fashion. In between releasing hit singles like “Tears Go By”, conducting a highly public romance with Mick Jagger, and starring in the now-legendary The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968), the London girl developed an era-defining wardrobe of floppy bucket hats, thigh-grazing mini skirts, and black leather jumpsuits – perfectly offset by her blunt fringe, heavy eyeliner, and nude lips.
Now, Bohemian Rhapsody’s Lucy Boynton is set to play the chanteuse in a major biopic, directed by BAFTA nominee Ian Bonhôte, best known for his feature documentary McQueen (2018). “Marianne is an extraordinary woman who rebelled against the male-dominated music industry,” the auteur said of his decision to board the project. “The film will explore female issues as well as the injustices she suffered in her quest to be recognised as an artist.”
The biopic has been in the works for more than a decade – with Faithfull telling the BBC that a film adaptation of her 1994 memoir Faithfull had been planned in the spring of 2009. “It won’t happen right away but we have found a director who I trust who wants to make a film of the book,” she said. “I don’t want to have much to do with it. I want to read the script and like the script and then I’m going to let go of it and let them do what they want. That’s the way to do it.”
The film will reportedly begin at the point when the 17-year-old Faithfull was discovered at a party for the Rolling Stones in London while she was still attending a convent school – charting her rise to fame with the release of Marianne Faithfull, her first record. Her relationship with Jagger – who has yet to be cast – is also expected to be a major focus of the plot, as is her descent into heroin addiction – which ultimately left her homeless on the streets of London before she staged a remarkable comeback.
Filming for the project will begin this autumn, with a release date yet to be confirmed. “I fell in love with this project the second I read it, so I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of telling Marianne’s story both as an actor and, for the first time, as an executive producer, especially alongside this creative team,” Boynton revealed in a statement following the news of her casting. “I can’t wait to really get started.”
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