Last year, the world learned that Finn Wolfhard is making a Replacements biopic, which caused me and many aging music dorks to wonder: How is that going to work? Does the Replacements' legendarily squalid run, a fascinating but frustrating tale of failure and self-sabotage, really lend itself to a medium as inherently glitzy as the cinema? Would fans even want to see the band's story hammered into all the familiar plot beats? Could this young man possibly wolf hard enough to pull it off? He certainly says the right things.
Finn Wolfhard, the Stranger Things star and occasional indie rocker, acquired the rights to Bob Mehr's amazing 2016 book Trouble Boys, a deeply researched and truly absorbing telling of the Replacements' story, and he's co-writing a screenplay adaptation with his father Eric. When the project was announced, Wolfhard mentioned that his parents had one of their first dates at a Replacements show, and he quoted Paul Westerberg: "Let’s let em down." (That's pretty funny.) In a new Billboard interview, Wolfhard talks about his new album Fire From The Hip and offers an update on the project and further describes his Replacements connection.
Wolfhard tells Billboard that the process is "going great" and that he and his producers are "trying to find a director for it." Wolfhard himself has some experience as a director. He has done some music videos, and he co-directed the 2023 slasher comedy Hell Of A Summer. From what he says there, it sounds like Wolfhard isn't planning to direct the Replacements film himself. I think that's a good thing. Wolfhard also describes the challenge of making a movie out of the Replacements' saga:
They are sort of the antithesis of a band that would have a biopic, in a lot of ways. And so, trying to tell a story that is authentic to them and also will maybe introduce their music to some people that wouldn’t necessarily know as much Replacements material, I think to me is the goal. And also to make something is true, and not too much of a cliché biopic. So the way me and my dad are approaching this movie is, "Well, what would this movie be like if it was a fictional band?" You know, treating the characters as characters, and not being like, "and this is the scene where they have a triumphant…this thing" but just making it about these characters, and very contained.
Wolfhard notes that he doesn't personally partake in the kinds of substances that fueled the relationships, smartly noting the perils that often befall former child stars like him. It seems like that could make this movie more of a challenge, though. Wolfhard describes a different kind of connection to the band:
What I relate to about the 'Mats is that they were so unafraid to be themselves. And I think they are the most authentic band that ever lived, to the point of their own detriment. I think I relate to the self-destructive nature of people because I think that this idea of failing, and failure, and all the pressure to be a certain way, or do a certain thing, and then going, "Well fuck all that, I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do. And if I’m gonna fail, I’m gonna do it myself. I’m gonna be the one that controls it" – to me is a very liberating thing. And in the end, kind of a tragedy, but also, there’s something about it that is I would say the most relatable human thing. And to me, it’s why they are the best rock band of all time.
Yeah man, I don't know! Maybe! We'll see! Wolfhard hasn't said whether he wants to act in this Replacements biopic, but if he does have to take a role, it better be Tommy Stinson and not Paul Westerberg. Read the Billboard interview here.
