Michael Hutchence was one of the great frontmen of our time. It was rare for a boy from the Australian suburbs to make it as big as he did, and the musician has remained a figure of intense public interest since his death in 1997.
Tonight, a new two-part documentary called Michael Hutchence: The Last Rockstar is set to air. The film is the product of a two year investigation by Seven News, in which vaults containing many of his private possessions — including instruments, new music, photos and family videos — were opened for the first time.
It has now come to light that his INXS band mates were never contacted or consulted in relation to the documentary (Michael’s sister and a number of his friends have helped Seven piece the story together).
In response, INXS have issued a statement declaring that they actively distance themselves from the doco. They write, “Universal Music Group, Petrol Records and the members of INXS have today confirmed that they were never approached for their opinion, consultation of the content, participation or comment in relation to the Michael Hutchence documentary on the Seven Network. Publication of any image or recording concerning INXS or the Band Members is not an authorised publication.”
In response to the band’s statement, the documentary’s executive producer Michael Llewellyn has come out in defence of his film. He argues that he believed the band were connected to another documentary so presumably wouldn’t be available for theirs. He argues that Michael Hutchence: The Last Rockstar is about the front man alone. “Although the story of INXS is inevitably intertwined with Michael’s life… the story of Michael Hutchence as opposed to the band is not that well told and not that well known. What we were trying to do, I took a very strong view right from the word dot, was to go to those that knew him as his family and his closest friends; people we hadn’t heard this from…this was a direction that was quite deliberately chosen because we wanted the perspective of people who knew him outside of the band.”
While it still makes little sense that the filmmakers didn’t reach out to the band at all, Llewellyn is optimistic that if the band watch the film, they’ll like it. “There’s a great deal of affection with which those stories are recounted.”