UNIVERSAL BACKS INXS DOC

Universal Music Group will produce a feature-length documentary film on the late INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence. Passion Pictures will co-produce; Richard Lowenstein, a friend of Hutchence’s, will direct.

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) will represent the film’s North American distribution rights and worldwide deals, originating in North America.

Universal Music Publishing Group signed a global publishing agreement in 2013 that brought all of the Australian band’s catalog into a single entity. INXS’ albums with Hutchence were released on various Warner Music Group labels.

“We have assembled an incredible team that is committed to telling Michael’s story and providing the world with a portrait of a man who left behind an enduring musical and cultural legacy,” said David Blackman, UMG’s Head of Film and Television Development and Production.

Lowenstein, an Australian, produced and directed multiple INXS videos, including “What You Need,” as well as a doc on Ben Lee.

“I have been working on the definitive documentary film journey into the heart and soul of this complex, shy, poetic and exceptionally charismatic man for many years,” Lowenstein said. “To be able to embark on this film now with such great partners as UMG, U.K.’s Passion Pictures, Ghost Pictures, Chris [Murphy] and INXS is extremely exciting and I know that together we are going to tell this story like no one else can.”

Passion Pictures produced the music docs Searching for Sugar Man, Jaco, We are X and Bob and the Monster.

Murphy, INXS’s longtime manager and Chairman of Petrol Records, said Hutchence’s daughter, Tiger Lily, will be a beneficiary of the film’s proceeds.