Joe Manganiello Making Smiths Movie Shoplifters of the World, With Morrissey’s Approval

Joe Manganiello, the actor best known for his roles in Magic Mike, Sabotage, and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, is working on a movie about the the Smiths, with Morrissey‘s approval. It’s titled Shoplifters of the World and takes as its inspiration an apocryphal incident from the late ’80s (that has since been mostly debunked) in which a disturbed Smiths fan in Denver held a radio station’s staff hostage at gunpoint and demanded they play Smiths songs on repeat. According to a Showbiz411 report (via Morrissey-Solo), the film is being set on the date in 1987 that the Smiths’ breakup was announced. (The same Denver incident is alleged to have inspired the 1994 Adam Sandler/Steve Buscemi/Brendan Fraser movie Airheads.) It’s being written and directed by Stephen Kijak, who has made documentaries about Scott Walker, the Rolling Stones, and the Backstreet Boys. Manganiello’s production company 359 Inc., which he runs with his brother Nick, is producing.

Reports about Shoplifters of the World have been circling for a few years. Back in 2012, Deadline reported that Jessica Brown Findlay, Zosia Mamet, Skylar Astin, Jeremy Allen White, and Thomas Brodie Sangster were among the cast members. Showbiz411′s report says that Manganiello will star in the film as the radio station DJ. That remains unconfirmed, though Manganiello didn’t deny it when tweeting a response to the Showbiz411 story. He instead took issue with Showbiz411′s description of the Smiths as a punk band:

@showbiz411 @victore1963 Rock or British Indie. You could even go new wave but definitely not punk. You’ve got some Spotify homework today

— Joe Manganiello (@JoeManganiello) May 4, 2016

Manganiello has said that Morrissey gave his permission for the Smiths’ catalog to be licensed for the film. Speaking to Collider in 2014, he explained:

It’s written by this writer/director named Stephen Kijak. He had a previous relationship with Morrissey, and Morrissey agreed to give us the catalogue for a nice, affordable fee. Well, it’s not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination, but we have Morrissey’s blessing to move forward with a the Smiths project. I’m a huge the Smiths fan. It’s just really great to be afforded the opportunity to go out and tell stories that I’m really excited and passionate about, like that one.

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