It’s been almost two years since we learned that an unauthorized Morrissey biopic was in the works, which was long enough to leave us wondering if the former Smiths singer had found a way to (peacefully, of course) shut it down, or if the scope of the project was going to be wide enough to include Moz’s possible mayoral bid. The time doesn’t appear to have been spent garnering its subject’s approval, but the film has made some headway, as Deadline reports that War & Peace’s Jack Lowden has signed on to play Morrissey in Steven.
The biopic comes from Control producer Orian Williams and Mark Gill, the latter of whom will direct and co-write the script with his The Voorman Problem collaborator William Thacker. Steven (Morrissey’s first name, which he’s long since shed) will focus on the singer-activist’s pre-Smiths years, which will look “inside the young mind of Steven Patrick Morrissey” to offer “a glimpse of what he observed and channelled in order to give us the future music of his thoughts, not only with The Smiths but his solo work as well.” Production on Steven is slated to begin next month, so Lowden will have to juggle Morrissey’s despair with Christopher Nolan’s WWII drama Dunkirk.