Benjamin Lee 

Joe Manganiello to produce and star in Morrissey-approved Smiths movie

The Magic Mike star is making Shoplifters of the World, a story about a crazed fan who held a radio station hostage in the 80s
  
  

Handsome devil … Joe Manganiello.
Handsome devil … Joe Manganiello. Photograph: Gaye Gerard/AAP

Joe Manganiello will produce and star in Shoplifters of the World, a Morrissey-approved drama about a fan of the Smiths who held a radio station hostage.

The film will focus on an incident that happened in Denver in the late 1980s, when a man held the staff of a radio station at gunpoint and demanded that the DJ, to be portrayed by Manganiello, play nothing but Smiths tracks on repeat.

Manganiello has previously starred in Magic Mike and True Blood, while the film will be written and directed by Stephen Kijak, known for his music documentaries. Kijak has apparently secured music from the Smiths to be used.

“[Kijak] had a previous relationship with Morrissey, and Morrissey agreed to give us the catalogue for a nice, affordable fee,” Manganiello said in a 2014 interview. “It’s not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but we have Morrissey’s blessing to move forward with a Smiths project. I’m a huge Smiths fan. It’s just really great to be afforded the opportunity to go out and tell stories that I’m really excited and passionate about, like that one.”

The hostage incident has previously been somewhat debunked by Denver music website Westword, which claims the original police records state that the man failed to go through with his intentions and gave himself up immediately.

The film is the second Smiths-related film in the works. A Morrissey biopic, titled Steven, is currently in production that’s set to focus on the singer’s deprived upbringing.

 

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