The rock n roll story of one of Australia’s biggest and most successful music exports is set to hit screens early next year a new two-part mini-series entitled Never Tear Us Apart: The INXS Story.
The first footage of the Channel Seven-backed show, which is set for a debut in early 2014, has appeared online, giving a preview of the INXS story, centered around the tragic trajectory of their iconic frontman, Michael Hutchence, as FasterLouder points out.
Australia actor Luke Arnold, who was cast to fill the lead man’s shoes back in April, looks and sounds the part in the new preview. The lead man not only bears a pretty good likeness for the fallen singer – complete with the curly locks and heavy brow – but drawing on his experience as the frontman of his own band, Motaboat, sound similar too, as he belts out the tele-series’ titular INXS hit, ‘Never Tear Us Apart’.
The trailer also shows off the rest of the cast, with INXS bassist Garry Gary Beers played by Packed To The Rafters graduate Hugh Sheridan, NIDA graduate Nicholas Masters in the role of Tim Farriss, with Offspring’s Ido Drent as drummer Jon Farriss and Andy Ryan as keyboardist and songwriter Andrew, while Alex Williams – who played the lead role in Underground: The Julian Assange Story, plays Kirk Pengilly.
Adding some wow factor is Samantha Jade, playing the part of pint-sized Hutchence squeeze, Kylie Minogue. The 26-year old Perth brunette and X Factor winner also looks the part as ‘our Kylie’, while Georgina Haig fulfills the role of Hutchence’s other muse, Paula Yates.
That love triangle, along with the turbulent lifestyle of life on the road and the pressures of fame, clearly telegraphs the dramatic intentions of Never Tear Us Apart: the INXS Story.
Never Tear Us Apart: the INXS Story also has the distinction of earning the blessing of the surviving members of INXS.
The band’s long-term manager Chris Murphy is acting as co-executive producer for the series – and played by Love My Way actor Damon Herriman – while Tim Farriss was on set to consult the actors during filming.
The INXS keys man said the shoot was an emotional ride as he saw his own life and times replicated for television, particularly seeing Luke Arnold bring Hutchence back to life. “I’ve been spending a lot of time with the cast and I’m amazed – at times I actually thought Michael was there,” the guitarist said in June. “It has been all forms of emotion for me (but) I’m very excited.”
The band not only lent the use of their back catalogue and likeness for the mini-series, but also opened up the INXS archive, with the show utilising footage of the band’s breakout 1991 performance at Wembley Stadium for the blockbuster Summer XS tour.
As well as the major key points of the INXS story, Never Tear Us Apart reportedly includes a lot of ‘untold’ stories, according to Mark Fennessy of production team Shine Australia, who was on tour with the band during their 80s zenith for the Kick and X-era as they moved from Australian rock stars to global concern.
Fennessy says the series will take in the darker side of Hutchence personality following a motorcycle accident in Thailand that robbed him of his sense of smell and taste ahead of his tragic suicide in 1997.
“He became quite dark, cynical, aggressive and depressed, and while he was on Prozac, that was on top of everything else he was taking,” continues Fennessy. “It was a frustrating time for him and the band.”
