A film adaptation of the West End play McQueen: or Lee and Beauty is in development. That play was helmed by James Phillips and debuted in 2015, 5 years after McQueen’s death. The film adaptation will follow the life of British fashion icon Alexander McQueen and is being developed by Radar Pictures.
Zach Helm (Stranger than Fiction, Deep Water) is writing the script for the film. He is planning to collaborate with James Phillips. The official synopsis reads, “Lee McQueen, alone and troubled in his beautiful townhouse, is trying to come up with his new collection. He must pitch to his investors the next morning, but he’s got nothing: inspiration has deserted him. Dahlia, a mysterious young woman, breaks into his house. She wants to steal a dress but also to escape from her own troubled life. As McQueen is about to call the police something in her raw honesty, her boldness, intrigues him. He changes his mind, puts down the phone.”
When asked about his involvement in the project, James Phillips said, “I’m thrilled to be working with Radar Pictures and Zach to bring Lee and Beauty to the big screen. It’s a dream to have a chance to walk again into the visionary world of Alexander McQueen, an artist I have loved for so long. When I first conceived this way of telling Lee’s story, it always seemed to me something that would lend itself wonderfully to cinema, so to have the chance to work with such a brilliant team of people is a great privilege.”
Zach Helm added, “Through his play, James has taken a subject that many would consider ‘too heavy a lift’ and buoyed it with joy, compassion, artistry and wonder. We hope to make a film not simply about Alexander McQueen, but of McQueen; tailored yet spectacular, challenging yet inspiring. I am thrilled to be working with Maria, Michael and the rest of the team at Radar to adapt this incredible piece about the complex and special human who lived inside the brilliant icon.”
No casting announcements have been made for the adaptation yet. Ted Field will produce alongside Maria Frisk and Michael Napoliello. Stay tuned for more updates.
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