Legendary singer-songwriter Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys already got the biopic treatment once in the ABC miniseries The Beach Boys: An American Family (2000). But Wilson didn’t care for that film, and 15 years later, his story will be on the big screen.
Love & Mercy follows Wilson’s career from his early success with The Beach Boys to the later stages of his life, during which he suffered a nervous breakdown and became a recluse. Paul Dano plays the younger Wilson, while John Cusack portrays the musician when he gets older. Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks also star in the film. Here is a teaser trailer.
It’s certainly encouraging that the film has use of the original music from Wilson and The Beach Boys. Not having rights to such material is typically a blow against these sorts of biopics, though some productions have worked around that by re-recording the music. But if you’re making a movie about Brian Wilson, don’t you want to hear the music that made him such a special artist?
Love & Mercy, which received positive reviews after showing at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, is set for a June 5 release.
[Deadline]
