The inevitable U2 movie

[DaveC]

it seems now that bohemian rhapsody and rocketman have been so successful, and with a bunch more coming out later this year, that every classic band is destined to have a major motion picture made about them at some point in the same way that every comic book superhero had a movie made about them in the last 10-15 years.

what do you think the movie would be like? which actors would play the band and the others who are part of the U2 story? who do you think should direct? what would you like to see the story focus on?

 

[pacemaker]

I love U2 so much, but a movie about them would be fuckin’ boring.

However, I think the dude who played Brian May in Bohemian Rhapsody looks exactly like The Edge.

 

[tommycharles]

I don't like these films.

(a) Faithfully recreating live shows for which we already have the original footage will create a preference for the new film version (higher quality, can fix any flubs, etc.) - people will prefer watching actors play their favorite musicians to watching those musicians themselves.

(b) Constructing a film version of your career, done while you're still alive and with your active participation, is too easy an opportunity to rewrite history. You can say all you like that it's just a film, but people watch these as documentaries, intentionally or not.

(c) A film about the past which exists in part to boosts ticket sales of an act playing songs from the past... is part of an overall trend which includes live action Disney reboots that shows we've more or less stopped telling new stories. We haven't quite stopped singing new songs to the same degree - of the top 25 earning tours last year, only about half are legacy acts, but that still seems like too many.

 

[AndrewCowley]

Seriously, no. Just no.

It'd be mocked from here to kingdom come.

Bono is just too polarising a character and knowing their revisionist approach to their history would likely be hopelessly lacking and inaccurate.

 

[cobl04]

I love you Dave C but I'll give you a million dollars if this ever happens.

 

[DaveC]

it would be so cool if they could somehow tie the movie premiere into the start of a residency at a casino in vegas.

 

[LemonMelon]

If I had the band's permission, I would write and aggressively shop a screenplay that adapted U2: At the End of the World and the Achtung Baby and Zooropa chapters of U2 By U2, focusing on the enormous high of the tour, the stay in Tokyo, and their fear of returning to normality. I think there's an engaging and dramatic story to tell about the challenges of balancing fame and family.

 

[namkcuR]

If I had the band's permission, I would write and aggressively shop a screenplay that adapted U2: At the End of the World and the Achtung Baby and Zooropa chapters of U2 By U2, focusing on the enormous high of the tour, the stay in Tokyo, and their fear of returning to normality. I think there's an engaging and dramatic story to tell about the challenges of balancing fame and family.

U2 At The End Of The World is easily the best book ever written about the band, imo. I've read it three or four different times. But man, there's so much good material there, that I don't even know how you'd condense into two hours or whatever. You could almost make a whole mini-series based on it. Whole episodes based on events like the Sellafield Greenpeace thing, the going-back-and-forth from gigs to Dublin to finish Zooropa in early 93, the Sarajevo linkups, Adam's missed gig, Tokyo, etc.

 

[The Panther]

I don't really see U2's story making for an exciting biopic (all of which blow, and are pointless).

Let's see, the big ones recently were:

- Ray Charles: a blind, black, drug addict
- Johnny Cash: a tortured, in-love, drug addict
- Freddie Mercury: a gay, HIV-infected dude
- Elton John: a gay drug addict

As U2 are neither gay nor drug addicts, those narrative angles are 'out'. But, okay, you say, they can still dig into the dirt to get the dark & gritty stuff....! Problem is... What dark and gritty stuff....??

Then, as U2 have (so far) a 43-year history, and these biopics tend to focus on 5-to-10 year periods, the first problem is what period would be focused on? Probably the early years would be most interesting.

So, the biopic could be teenage U2 going to London to score their record deal, failing, coming back to Ireland, and playing the hometown show after which Island Records offered them a deal. Might be okay...

But there's be no drama, as the guys just aren't interesting enough. Unless a film company wants to invest money in a biopic about a rock band who might give it all up for Christianity... just doesn't strike me as a box-office winner.

 

[Hewson]

Ryan Gosling as Larry
Chuck Norris as The Edge
George Clooney as Adam
Eric Stonestreet as Bono

 

[rennowba]

It’s already been made , hasn’t anyone ever watched killing bono

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

it would be so cool if they could somehow tie the movie premiere into the start of a residency at a casino in vegas.

[emoji813]

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Do we need actors for young and old boner, are we just picking young actors who we can age with makeup, or are we going Scorsese here and de-aging old actors with CGI?

Inquiring minds need answers.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Oh, and yes - there's absolutely a U2/Bono movie there if it's written well.

Young kid loses his mom at his grandfather's funeral, amidst The Troubles and heroin epidemic in late 70s Ireland, forms a band with school mates in a kitchen, becomes biggest band in the world? Marries his HS gf?

Would need a good script and would probably have to focus on the pre Boy days. But it could be done.

 

[The Panther]

The kid from A Series of Unfortunate Events would be good for 17/18-year-old Edge:

 

[kabigon]

Ryan Gosling as Larry
Chuck Norris as The Edge
George Clooney as Adam
Eric Stonestreet as Bono

Werner Herzog as Larry
Matthew McConaughey as The Edge
Jeff Goldblum as Adam
Liam Gallagher as Bono

 

[MissCandyGirl]

Not surprisingly, I think the movie would focus on Bono: especially his early years. He had to grow up so fast: that would make a dramatic number of scenes in the movie. Plus, there's his relationship with his wife and how his children dealt with their father's fame.

There is a lot of material to be explored. And the writers would have to heavily edit the movie, because there is only so much you can fit in 2 to 3 hours worth of film.

 

[lazarus]

If I had the band's permission, I would write and aggressively shop a screenplay that adapted U2: At the End of the World and the Achtung Baby and Zooropa chapters of U2 By U2, focusing on the enormous high of the tour, the stay in Tokyo, and their fear of returning to normality. I think there's an engaging and dramatic story to tell about the challenges of balancing fame and family.

Oh, and yes - there's absolutely a U2/Bono movie there if it's written well.

Young kid loses his mom at his grandfather's funeral, amidst The Troubles and heroin epidemic in late 70s Ireland, forms a band with school mates in a kitchen, becomes biggest band in the world? Marries his HS gf?

These are really the only two options. As has already been said here, they're too "boring" and drama-free to receive the typical decades-long biopic treatment. Which is part of what makes them so special.

But yeah I don't really see a studio wanting to fund this, at least at this point in time. Maybe after they retire.

 

[kingofsorrow]

no,but a movie about interference. yes.

 

[The Panther]

no,but a movie about interference. yes.

U2 Interference: Battle & Scrum

 

[lazarus]

no,but a movie about interference. yes.

Really excited to see who plays Fake Edge.

 

[Irvine511]

there's already a treatment out there. it's called Songs of Innocence.

also, wasn't Sing Street kind of an early-U2 movie? only gentle and cute?

 

[The_acrobat]

there's already a treatment out there. it's called Songs of Innocence.

also, wasn't Sing Street kind of an early-U2 movie? only gentle and cute?

You took the words right out of my mouth. Songs of Innocence is basically the story of young Bono/U2. The end of the movie could be when Boy comes out, and then it’s basically be a “they all lived happily ever after” kind of ending.

Sure, Adam had a very minor drug bust in the late 80’s, and missed 1 single gig due to an alcohol abuse problem that he then got under control rather quickly. That’s pretty much the only scandalous thing to happen in the band’s entire history. Edge had a very amicable divorce with his high school sweetheart. Just a case of they probably got married and had kids too young, and weren’t prepared for the challenges that being in a famous band on the road posed for them.

What else? There was a small backlash to Rattle and Hum and it was only a moderate success instead of a mega success. There was POP, where the public sort of said “meh” and they had a handful of shows with poor attendance. Then there was the SOI scandal where people were mad for a short while, but got over it. Bono had a few wild nights of drinking in Tokyo in Zoo TV... he was young, famous, and a bit unhinged at the end of a long tour... seems normal.

A U2 movie would just be very uneventful.

 

[DaveC]

Really excited to see who plays Fake Edge.

danny trejo as "axver"
melissa mccarthy as "cobl04"
terry crews as "davec"
gilbert gottfried as "headache in a suitcase"
jack nicholson as "jerry dunk"
idris elba as "lemonmelon"
beyoncé as "bono_212"
zach galifianakis as "lazarus"
tommy lee jones as "hewson"
sean connery as "mikal"
bill hader as "luckynumber7"
tim meadows as "irvine511"
meryl streep as "anitram"
carrot top as "redhill"
rob schneider as "sting"
andy dick as "gzusfrk"
giancarlo esposito as "misscandygirl"

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Really excited to see who plays Fake Edge.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

danny trejo as "axver"
melissa mccarthy as "cobl04"
terry crews as "davec"
gilbert gottfried as "headache in a suitcase"
jack nicholson as "jerry dunk"
idris elba as "lemonmelon"
beyoncé as "bono_212"
zach galifianakis as "lazarus"
tommy lee jones as "hewson"
sean connery as "mikal"
bill hader as "luckynumber7"
tim meadows as "irvine511"
meryl streep as "anitram"
carrot top as "redhill"
rob schneider as "sting"
andy dick as "gzusfrk"
giancarlo esposito as "misscandygirl"

I hate you and love you at the same time.

 

[Irvine511]

danny trejo as "axver"
melissa mccarthy as "cobl04"
terry crews as "davec"
gilbert gottfried as "headache in a suitcase"
jack nicholson as "jerry dunk"
idris elba as "lemonmelon"
beyoncé as "bono_212"
zach galifianakis as "lazarus"
tommy lee jones as "hewson"
sean connery as "mikal"
bill hader as "luckynumber7"
tim meadows as "irvine511"
meryl streep as "anitram"
carrot top as "redhill"
rob schneider as "sting"
andy dick as "gzusfrk"
giancarlo esposito as "misscandygirl"

This is well done.

 

[LemonMelon]

danny trejo as "axver"
melissa mccarthy as "cobl04"
terry crews as "davec"
gilbert gottfried as "headache in a suitcase"
jack nicholson as "jerry dunk"
idris elba as "lemonmelon"
beyoncé as "bono_212"
zach galifianakis as "lazarus"
tommy lee jones as "hewson"
sean connery as "mikal"
bill hader as "luckynumber7"
tim meadows as "irvine511"
meryl streep as "anitram"
carrot top as "redhill"
rob schneider as "sting"
andy dick as "gzusfrk"
giancarlo esposito as "misscandygirl"

It's like looking in a mirror

 

[Iggy Fizz]

I dont think the world needs or wants a movie to promote the most self-promoting band in the history of the human race.

also, they have done it before; it did not end well for them.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

shia labeouf as "iggy fizz"