As anticipation grows for the final season of “Stranger Things,” star Finn Wolfhard has lined up another project that takes him back to the ’80s.
The “It” and “Ghostbusters” leading man is teaming with his father, Eric Wolfhard, and producer Rich Peete to bring Bob Mehr’s acclaimed biography “Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements” to the big screen.
The father and son will co-write the screenplay, with Peete producing “Trouble Boys” under his Neighborhood Watch banner. Peete recently collaborated with the CAA-repped Finn Wolfhard on A24’s “The Legend of Ochi,” which made its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year.
Published in 2016, “Trouble Boys” is widely regarded as the definitive chronicle of The Replacements, the legendary Minneapolis punk band known for shaping American alternative rock. While the band’s influence was undeniable, having paved the way for ’90s stadium-fillers Nirvana and Green Day, original members Paul Westerberg, Bob Stinson, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars often were are at the center of drama. Lorne Michaels banned them from ever returning to “Saturday Night Live” following a self-sabotaging profanity-laced performance in 1986 that signaled the band’s coming downfall. (Westerberg did return to “SNL” as a solo artist in 1993.)
Written by Bob Mehr, a veteran music critic and Grammy-winning essayist, “Trouble Boys” became a New York Times bestseller and earned book-of-the-year honors from NPR and Rolling Stone.
The project marks another move behind the camera for Finn Wolfhard, who recently co-directed, co-wrote and co-produced the Neon horror film “Hell of a Summer” alongside Billy Bryk. At the same time, he has made serious inroads in the music space and is currently on his first solo tour tied to his debut album “Happy Birthday.” The fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” launches on Netflix on Nov. 26 and will roll out incrementally rather than binge-style, wrapping up on New Year’s Eve.
In a recent Variety cover story, the multi-hyphenate talked about working with his father on a secret music-themed project at their home in Vancouver. “I’ve been writing a lot of music and writing this movie with my dad, which has been really amazing,” Wolfhard said of how he had spent his time since production wrapped on “Stranger Things” in December. “It’s about a band that I think weirdly I have a lot in common with, a lot of the members. I can’t really talk about the actual band because I don’t have the rights officially yet.”
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
The father and son are repped by Venture Entertainment Partners and the law firm Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein. Finn Wolfhard is additionally handled by Jill Fritzo PR.
Peete — who is in prep on Jeremy Saulnier’s A24 horror film “October,” which begins shooting this month — and Neighborhood Watch are handled by attorneys at Granderson Des Rochers. Mehr is represented by CAA and WitnessMe PR.
From Variety US