Jack O'Connell to play tragic designer Alexander McQueen in new film about the year before he took his own life

By Charlie Moore For Mailonline

Published: 14:09 EST, 25 October 2016 | Updated: 14:25 EST, 25 October 2016

Jack O’Connell is set to play Alexander McQueen in an upcoming film about the tragic British fashion designer.

The movie, which is produced by Damian Jones at DJ Films, will trace McQueen's life as he prepared his 2009 autumn/winter collection, Horn of Plenty, a year before he killed himself.

Unbroken star O'Connell, 26, has been selected for the lead role in the screenplay which is based on Andrew Wilson's biography Blood Beneath The Skin.

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Big role: Jack O’Connell is set to play Alexander McQueen in an upcoming film about the British fashion designer

The script has been written by award-winning playwright Chris Urch and the movie will be directed by Andrew Haigh, best known for 45 Years.

Pathe will distribute the film in the UK, France and Switzerland, and will handle sales in the rest of the world, reports Variety.  

A statement from Pathe read: 'In 2009, Alexander McQueen put on one of his greatest shows — a stunningly beautiful re-working of his greatest designs from the past 15 years.

'It was a show that he dedicated to his mother and one in which he tried to make sense of his life and art. The film explores McQueen's creative process in the months leading up to the show, providing an intimate portrait of the man behind the global brand — a moving celebration of a visionary genius whose designs transcended fashion to become art.' 

Emotional: The movie, which is produced by Damian Jones at DJ Films, will trace McQueen's life in the run up to his 2009 fashion show, a year before he killed himself

Lauded: McQueen (pictured in 2002 in Paris) won several awards for his iconic fashion designs

Principal photography will start in spring 2017. The release date of the as-yet-untitled film is yet to be determined.

Award-winning designer Alexander McQueen, who was dubbed 'the hooligan of English fashion', took his own life aged 40 in 2010, on the eve before his beloved mother's funeral.

He was born in Lewisham in 1969 to a taxi driver and social science teacher and spent five years as chief designer at Givenchy.

O'Connell is also from humble beginnings. Leaving school with two GSCEs, he got his big break on Skins and made his film debut in This Is England - released in 2006 and set in the skinhead subculture of the 1980s - to positive reviews.

Star: Jack O'Connell played Kyle Budwell in Money Monster, featuring George Clooney

Speaking to Radio 4, he said: 'I'm from a pretty deprived part of Derby, I'd say, and there just isn't the same amount of opportunity. In fact, it’s very difficult to stay out of trouble.'

'Even my friends I still know from home, if their heads are above water, just living an honest life, from my point of view that is a huge achievement, as there is a huge amount of room for not very productive achievements.'

In recent years the star has demonstrated his obvious talent and gone on to ever greater success - winning the BAFTA Rising Star award for his performance in Angelina Jolie's 2014 film, Unbroken, in which he starred as war hero Louis Zamperini. 

Experienced: He also starred in Private Peaceful in 2011

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