Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan says Slipknot biopic is “most positively going to occur”, however not with Hollywood studio
In a brand new interview with NME, Slipknot percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan mentioned the potential for the band’s story being changed into a biopic, revealing that he has a number of concepts for a serial mission of his personal.
The subject got here up when Clown crammed us in on the forthcoming debut of Knotfest Australia, which he mentioned was one of many many new initiatives that Slipknot have been engaged on. Having simply fulfilled the phrases of their contract with Roadrunner Data, the band will probably be totally impartial on the finish of subsequent March – which, Clown advised NME, means they’ll be capable to experiment with new inventive avenues (like a standalone single-based launch mannequin).
A number of the band’s future endeavours will embody visible initiatives helmed by Clown – he’s lengthy been concerned in filmmaking each in and out of doors of Slipknot, directing 17 of the band’s music movies and three of their documentaries, in addition to narrative movies like Officer Downe. When requested if he’d ever contemplate helming a Slipknot biopic within the vein of Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman, Clown revealed: “It wasn’t that way back that I used to be very annoyed with this kind of thought, as a result of the enterprise, if you’ll, was pressuring us for one thing like that.”
The artist (who doubles as Slipknot’s de facto “inventive director”) referred to as again to the 2015 movie Straight Outta Compton – a biopic concerning the origins of N.W.A – which he mentioned “made all of the enterprise individuals suppose Bohemian Rhapsody was an amazing thought”.
“The issue is,” Clown defined, “is that I watched Bohemian Rhapsody, and it’s strictly one-sided. And the people who wrote it and stuff, they’ll inform you, ‘Oh, it’s supposed to be one sided.’ It’s simply concerning the star, you understand, it’s Freddie Mercury’s story – however I’m a Brian Could fan as nicely, and I need to know extra about him. However you may’t try this in two hours, and the fits within the company world, who preserve the [film industry], they don’t need to do greater than two hours. That’s an excessive amount of of a threat for his or her enterprise, and sadly, they management how artwork is dealt with and will get to nearly all of the human race.”
He assured followers {that a} narrative mission about Slipknot’s story is “most positively going to occur” sooner or later, however not beneath the helm of a serious Hollywood studio. Explaining why he refuses to humour any of their concepts, Clown mentioned: “It wasn’t that way back that folks wished to make motion figures of us, and so they didn’t even get to [the prototype stage] as a result of they wished to mock us up as grandiose and fantastical and superhero-ish. My philosophy was at all times like, ‘Don’t you suppose that the actual Slipknot is scarier than something [pretend] you may make me into? The truth that I’m human, and that we convey that kind of worry out of individuals?’
“I might by no means get anyone to create us, so I’m sort of holding that to the movie. I’ve had so many concepts delivered to me, and there’s so many people who find themselves annoyed with me about it. They’ve really advised me, ‘Possibly it’d be higher for those who’re not concerned.’ And I’m identical to, ‘Yeah, we’ll see how that works for you.’ As a result of if I’m not concerned, meaning I’m not concerned. Which means, ‘Good luck with regardless of the fuck you’re making an attempt to do, as a result of I’m not going to approve a phrase of it.’
“They push, however I’m not . As a result of that’s fucking cheese to its best, to make one thing simply so I can have all of the fits stroll out of it going, ‘That was actually good!’ It’s like, ‘You by no means performed with us within the band, you don’t know what the fuck you’re speaking about! You’re simply impressed that some putz director hit a mark in some visible means for theatres to promote popcorn. Get the fuck out of right here. That is my life.’”
Clown went on to say that initiatives like Web3 – which he’s personally concerned in through Knotverse and his personal NFT mission – are altering that. “Web3 is creating all kinds of conditions for youths that ought to be directing films, however by no means would’ve had an opportunity [in Hollywood] as a result of they don’t have a community or they’re not within the scene,” he mentioned. “I imply, the web is an excellent place for expertise. So now, with all these children taking on their very own destinies, if the fitting individuals approached me and wished to do [a Slipknot biopic], there could be a strategy to hash it out.”
As for the prospect of Clown taking the reins on a Slipknot biopic himself, he revealed that he has “some very insane concepts for how one can make it work”, however would want the help of “some very inventive individuals” to show them right into a viable pitch. He defined: “I’m not a author. I can solely provide the tales. But when I sat down with some actually inventive [screenwriters], I’d be capable to inform all of them these concepts and we might provide you with one thing that might make individuals say, ‘Sure, we’ll provide the cash to make that.’”
Clown’s primary imaginative and prescient for such a mission, he mentioned, would take the type of a miniseries: “I like True Detective, and that [first season] was eight episodes lengthy. I’m excited about eight-to-15 episodes. That means, you may go prior to now and see [the late] Paul Grey taking part in a right-handed guitar when he’s left-handed; I can return to once I was a bit of child, and inform all of the tales concerning the loopy shit Joey [Jordison, Slipknot’s ex-drummer who died in 2021] used to do. I can paint all these photos that might make you go, ‘Oh, that’s why this fucking dude is who he’s!’
“I’m not making Bohemian Rhapsody, man. There’s a whole lot of dudes [in Slipknot] that must be represented equally – not one is bigger than the opposite, and you’ll’t clarify the band with out explaining all of them. After which there’s our first supervisor [Sophia John], who handed away – that story must be in there – after which there’s a motley crew of a few dozen different motherfuckers… I imply, it’s an enormous story, man! It’s insane. So we’re gonna do it, however we’re gonna do it our means.”
In the meantime, final week it was introduced that Slipknot would headline subsequent 12 months’s Obtain Competition alongside Metallica and Deliver Me The Horizon. The information got here after the band introduced the first-ever Knotfest in Australia, in addition to a nine-date European tour for subsequent June.
They’re at present touring on the again of their current seventh album, ‘The Finish, So Far’, which arrived again in September and featured the singles ‘The Chapeltown Rag’, ‘The Dying Tune (Time To Sing)’ and ‘Yen’. In a four-star assessment of, NME’s Andrew Trendell mentioned it “might rattle lots of the steel devoted, however for the prowess and lasting impression of this file alone, this can be a true Slipknot file”.