After ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ Lucy Boynton To Star in New Marianne Faithfull Biopic

In musical drama Sing Street, Lucy Boynton played the love interest to a burgeoning musician, played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo. In musical drama Bohemian Rhapsody, Boynton played the love interest-turned-life partner of musical superstar Freddie Mercury, played by Rami Malek. Now, finally, Boynton gets to lead her own musical drama — one based on the incredible story of Marianne Faithfull.

As reported on by Deadline, Boynton will both star in and executive produce the as-of-yet untitled film about Faithfull, the first time Boynton has ventured into producing. If you don’t know anything about Marianne Faithfull, her life story is fascinating. Her best-known song is “As Tears Go By,” a somber, psychedelic-tinged ballad about a particularly romantic-feeling sense of ennui. The song was eventually covered by The Rolling Stones, which makes sense, as Faithfull was discovered a party thrown by the hard-rockers, and was in a notoriously publicized relationship with Mick Jagger during the prime of her 1960s career.

Image via Netflix

Eventually, Faithfull and Jagger broke up amidst Faithfull’s issues with drug addiction, anorexia, homelessness, and debilitating laryngitis. But in 1979, Faithfull released a comeback album called Broken English, and thundered back into the public consciousness. Her voice had irrevocably changed into a hardened, lower, raspier tone, but audiences loved the new sound, and she used her new instrument to transition into bluesier, heavier tunes. All of this and more should make for fascinating screen stuff, and Boynton will have plenty to play with in her film. Malek won an Oscar for playing Mercury; is Boynton’s Oscar far behind?

Beyond Bohemian Rhapsody and Sing Street, you can also see Boynton in Netflix’s The Politician alongside Ben Platt and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kenneth Branagh‘s Murder on the Orient Express (2017) alongside a whole mess-load of famous people. You can also check out our interview with her and Platt right here.