James Croot of New Zealand’s Stuff reports:
Bohemian Rhapsody‘s success has got Rob Halford thinking.
Judas Priest’s lead singer believes the British heavy metallers’ almost-50-years-of-history would be ideal fodder for a Hollywood biopic.
“I think Judas Priest has had a very interesting life,” Halford tells Stuff ahead of the band’s visit to Auckland for a one-off show on March 16th. “We’ve certainly got some stories to tell. We’ve certainly had a lot of incidents on the road that’s for sure,” he adds, also pointing to the similarities between himself and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.
“I also had to hide a gay guy like Freddie for all those years,” says the now 67-year-old Halford who only publicly revealed his homosexuality in 1998…
…As for who would play him? Halford isn’t sure. “Who could be the ‘metal god’? I haven’t got a clue. I thought Rami [Malek, who won an Oscar for his performance in Bohemian Rhapsody] did a fantastic job of Freddie’s persona, charisma. But I’m sure there’s another actor out there who could get the leather and whips and chains on.”
Halford says he could also help with the script, admitting that he’s currently finally working on a memoir on his life and time with the You’ve Got Another Thing Coming and Breaking the Law hitmakers.
“It’s been rattling around in my head forever. As you move on in life and have had the wonderful good luck, fortune and gratefulness to spend 50 years in a glorious band like Judas Priest, the main thing is you want to be to tell your side of the story from the horse’s mouth, as opposed to something that has been knocked up by somebody else from a bunch of interviews and so forth.
Just because of the way I am and because I’m the lyricist of the band – a bit like my mate Bruce [Dickinson, Iron Maiden’s lead singer] – I think mine will end up like The Lord of the Rings. Between my early childhood, adolescent years and the place where I’m at now, I think we’re talking about three heavy metal tomes.”
Read more at Stuff.
23 Responses
I’m sure Robs book will be a great read , he has lived a very interesting life for sure, and has lived the experience of being a closeted gay man in the world of rock music for years before he publicly came out, I know others have done it, but priest is the epitome of metal and rock , a real ” mans man” band – that had to be tougher for him, than Elton , bowie or Freddie – that could be a book in itself I am really looking forward to reading it !
I heard that they had a guy on Idol do death metal. Lionel Richie and Katie Perry hid under the table in fear, as they should. S***y pop stars…outta fear I hide under the bed when I hear Justin Bieber (no really I’m looking for my baseball bat).
Well, Charles,
I must confess, that I do not like Death Metal, nor cookie monster vocals, either. So, while I did not see, nor hear, the audition, I can understand why they were not impressed by that genre of music. Bieber, is less than stellar as well, but for different reasons.
I am interested in this