A Last Christmas film based on the George Michael song is coming
George Michael and fellow Wham! band member Andrew Ridgeley (Hulton Archive/Getty)
Emma Thompson is producing a film based on the late George Michael’s hit song “Last Christmas.”
Michael was signed on to participate in the film’s creation before his death on Christmas Day in 2016.
And in an interview with RadioTimes.com, Thompson’s co-writer Bryony Kimmings confirmed that Michael had been part of the idea’s conception.
George Michael in 1985 (Hulton Archive/Getty)
Kimmings, who created the film’s first draft, said: “When I came on board, George was up for it, he’d already signed something to say yes, but he’d passed away, and Greg and Emma were still very keen to write it.”
Her first draft of Last Christmas, which has recently been picked up by Universal Pictures, included a “trans lead,” but Kimmings said she did not expect the character to make it to the final script.
“[When] I wrote my draft, I tried to slip in some trans people and make sure there was queer politics in there,” she said.
Michael during the video for “Last Christmas” (Whamtv/youtube)
“I don’t know how much of that remains!”
Kimmings admitted: “I doubt there’ll be a trans lead.
“But I hope that there’s quite an element of queer in there, because you know it’s the story – it’s based on the song, ‘Last Christmas.’
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley rock out (Express Newspapers/Getty)
“George was such a massive advocate for gay rights – and a massive gay himself! – so I hope there’s a gay narrative in there,” she added.
Last Christmas, Michael’s former Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley backed a campaign to get the song to number one on the anniversary of the singer’s death.
Despite the classic holiday track being a firm holiday staple, it never topped the charts while Michael was alive.
The track missed out on the number one spot in the end, but reached number two the next week, matching its highest ever chart ranking 33 years after it was first released.
George Michael performs during the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games (LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty)
In June, the star’s fan-made memorial was dismantled, 18 months after his death.
Fans had left tributes to the singer in the gardens in front of his Highgate home, after his sudden death on Christmas Day in 2016.
The family had asked fans to take down the memorial by the last weekend of May.
Tributes of flowers, photographs and candles are left outside the home of pop music icon George Michael (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
In a statement on Michael’s website, the family said: “We’ve been touched by your many tributes celebrating and remembering Yog [Michael’s nickname], reminding us how very much he is missed and loved.
“However, we feel we cannot expect our Highgate and Goring neighbours to continue to accept as normality, the memorials so personal to you all, to remain as and where they are any longer although, we do appreciate your recent efforts to minimise their impact.”
