Dominic West (“The Crown”),Alexander Dreymon (“The Final Kingdom”),Ludwig Trepte (“Era Warfare”),Ed Speleers (“You”),David Kross (“The Reader”) and Luke Brandon Subject (“Interview With The Vampire”, “Jojo Rabbit”) have been forged in lead roles within the extremely anticipated characteristic movie “Wind Of Change”, which lately began manufacturing at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London.
Directed by Alex Ranarivelo and produced by ESX Leisure for FOX Leisure Studios in affiliation with Warner Bros. House Leisure, “Wind Of Change” is a music biopic chronicling the unimaginable journey of the legendary rock group the SCORPIONS, with the longest-running and most profitable line-up of the band together with guitarist Rudolf Schenker (Dreymon),Klaus Meine (Trepte),Matthias Jabs (Speleers) and drummer Herman Rarebell (Subject). It tells the story of a band united by their ardour for music, who sought to encourage change on the planet by their highly effective sound and significant lyrics. On the coronary heart of the movie is their iconic anthem “Wind Of Change”, which grew to become the soundtrack to the top of the Chilly Warfare, symbolizing hope, peace and unity. By means of their music, with hits starting from “Rock You Like A Hurricane” to “Nonetheless Loving You”, the SCORPIONS helped bridge the divide between East and West, leaving an indelible mark on historical past and proving the transformative energy of artwork. West is about to play Doc McGhee, the SCORPIONS well-known music supervisor and Kross will star as Andrej, the band’s imprisoned pal on the opposite facet of the Berlin wall.
“It has been an unbelievable journey creating this movie and bringing it to life feels surreal” says Ali Afshar, founder and president of ESX Leisure. “Not solely did the SCORPIONS‘ music assist me get by super difficulties as an Iranian immigrant in America within the early ’80s, however their message of affection, peace and rock ‘n’ roll appears extra related at present than ever. This forged is a tremendous ensemble of really nice expertise. I can not thank FOX Leisure and Warner Bros. House Leisure sufficient for his or her assist and particularly the band — Rudolf, Klaus and Matthias — for believing in us and trusting us to inform their life story.”
The SCORPIONS have constructed a exceptional legacy as one of the enduring rock bands of the previous fifty years. With 110 million albums bought worldwide, they continue to be certainly one of Germany’s most profitable musical exports. Their breakout hits like “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and “Wind of Change” proceed to resonate, the latter surpassing one billion streams throughout platforms and remaining a cultural touchstone. Even at present, their music repeatedly seems on rock radio and streaming playlists, and so they proceed to tour globally. Their endurance has earned them an enduring place in rock historical past.
“Wind Of Change” is produced by ESX Leisure‘s Ali Afshar, Christina Moore and Daniel Aspromonte for FOX Leisure Studios in affiliation with Warner Bros. House Leisure. The movie is written by Mark Andrews and directed by Alex Ranarivelo. FOX Leisure World retains worldwide distribution rights excluding U.S. and international transactional rights, which Warner Bros. Discovery World Content material Gross sales will handle.
ESX Leisure is a prolific manufacturing firm housed on the Warner Bros. lot that has launched over two dozen movies since 2017. Their gems have been launched in theaters, HBO MAX, Netflix and Amazon, with quite a few titles changing into primary hits on these platforms.
This previous April, Meine spoke to Igor Miranda of Brazil’s Rolling Stone in regards to the band’s biopic. Klaus mentioned: ”There is a man, a producer in Los Angeles, who’s engaged on this challenge for fairly some time. It’s totally near his coronary heart. So he’s on this with all his coronary heart and fervour for rock music and for his love for the SCORPIONS and for our music and for our work of life. And so he needs to make, not a documentary, he needs to make a biopic in regards to the band and inform the story of the band. And hopefully they get it accomplished all through the following couple months so it’ll work out with the sixtieth anniversary of the band. Will probably be fantastic.”
Klaus added: “They may inform the story of the SCORPIONS from a unique perspective. He is a Persian producer, lives in Los Angeles, works very shut with Warner Brothers for a lot of, a few years. Very skilled form of producer, and he has an awesome crew and so they’re all on this with their coronary heart and souls, and wanna make an awesome film in regards to the band for the followers around the globe to share it with us.”
In February, Meine instructed Scorpions Brazil, in regards to the standing of “Wind Of Change”: “Nicely, films [are] additionally one thing that takes a while till issues get rolling. And proper now we hope later this yr the biopic will probably be out everywhere in the world. Proper now [they are] engaged on the script and dealing on the actors, to seek out the correct characters who play the band. It isn’t really easy to seek out 5 Brad Pitts.”
Requested if he and the remainder of SCORPIONS are concerned within the casting and the screenplay, Klaus mentioned: “Yeah, we take part within the script and after they go for the primary trying out who can play Rudolf, Matthias and myself. So we keep in shut contact with our pal Ali Afshar, who’s the producer of this film. And he has an awesome crew, and he has a giant coronary heart, and he loves the band and he’ll make a really particular biopic, as a result of he is in it, along with this crew, actually with coronary heart and soul. You possibly can inform.”
Meine went on to say that he would not know precisely when “Wind Of Change” will probably be launched. “Sadly, it is too early,” he defined. “They begin capturing round Might, after which I do not know. Hopefully within the fall. It could be nice. However with these filmmaking points, you actually by no means know. There are one million issues that may go nice or can go fallacious. So what do we all know? We’re a part of it and we assist the crew. However they’ve a transparent idea in regards to the film and the script is fairly cool as properly. But when there are issues to vary alongside the best way… We’re a part of it, however we stand watching with numerous pleasure. And hopefully will probably be as nice because the filmmakers suppose will probably be.”
When “Wind Of Change” was first introduced in June 2024, Afshar mentioned: “The SCORPIONS‘ music has penetrated our tradition in a giant approach. There may be an evocative high quality to their sound that’s unmatched within the style, which is among the causes hits like ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ and ‘Nonetheless Loving You’ proceed to get a lot airplay and fill film soundtracks, and their music continues to attach with a brand new era of followers throughout the globe.
“When my household fled Iran and got here to the USA, the SCORPIONS‘ music modified my life — if not saved it,” he continued. “I am hoping that by telling the SCORPIONS‘ story, we will carry a few of that very same inspiration to the world.”
SCORPIONS wrote their traditional ballad “Wind Of Change” after acting at 1989’s Moscow Music Peace Pageant in Moscow, the place they shared the stage with different arduous rock acts like BON JOVI and MÖTLEY CRÜE. The track was impressed by the sight of 1000’s of Russians cheering them on in 1988 — after they grew to become the primary arduous rock band to play in Russia — and in 1989, on the aforementioned pageant, despite the fact that they have been a German band.
When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, “Wind Of Change” accompanied the transferring scenes of East Germans passing by the Brandenburg Gate and coming into the West for the primary time.
In Might 2020, a idea that “Wind Of Change” was really penned by the CIA as a chunk of late Chilly Warfare propaganda was raised in an eight-part podcast sequence, additionally referred to as “Wind Of Change”, which premiered on Spotify. The podcast was hosted by New Yorker journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, who mentioned he launched the investigation after listening to a second-hand story from a pal who used to work for the CIA — that “Wind Of Change” was really written by the CIA to encourage change all through the Soviet Union.
SCORPIONS‘ solely steady member has been Schenker, though Meine has appeared on the entire band’s studio albums, whereas Jabs has been a constant member since 1978, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been within the band since 2003 and 2016, respectively.
SCORPIONS‘ newest album, “Rock Believer”, was launched in February 2022. The album was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was blended on the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned a number of Grammy nominations for his combine work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.
Picture credit score: Marc Theis (courtesy of Wilful Publicity)
