Seven’s Mark Llewellyn says tonight’s Michael Hutchence documentary ‘didn’t need the authority of INXS’
The executive producer of Seven’s documentary Michael Hutchence: The Last Rockstar says he stands by the decision to create tonight’s program without the blessing of the late singer’s band INXS.
Mark Llewellyn’s comments to Mumbrella came after INXS, Universal Music Group and Petrol Records this morning put out a statement distancing them from the two-part documentary, which starts at 7.30pm.
Llewellyn told Mumbrella that Seven has the blessing of the people that matter to the story – Hutchence’s family and friends. Next month will mark the 20th anniversary of Hutchence’s death, which was later ruled at an inquest to be suicide.
Today’s statement said: “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 authorized publication.
“The band remain focused on their 40th anniversary event and their future projects.”
WORLD PREMIERE | Michael Hutchence – The Last Rockstar Coming soon to 7 #MichaelHutchence pic.twitter.com/B2ZQ86wFZj
— Channel 7 (@Channel7) September 3, 2017
But Llewellyn told Mumbrella: “In the nicest possible way, it was a story about Michael, it is a story about Michael, his life and time and to that extent I wanted to explore people who had not spoken out before, I wanted to go and see how his life resonated with his friends and family, those closest to him, people that had not given their accounts before and it was quite deliberate that I do so; I wanted their authority and I ended up getting it, the authority of family, the authority of friends, the authority of the Hutchence estate.
“If I was to do a documentary on INXS then you would naturally expect that I would do it with their authority, but I wasn’t doing a documentary on INXS.”
The documentary includes never-before-seen private home videos recorded by Hutchence himself .
Llewellyn said his intention was to focus on Hutchence’s life from the perspective of those external to the band, shedding light on the pivotal points in his life which were completely separate to his time as the INXS lead singer.
“These were the people who spent the most time with him in the critical points of his life, the pivotal points of his life and there was a lot going on in his life that was completely separate to the times that he was with the band, and that is why I wanted to go down that path, it is a path that has not been travelled, the other path has been well traveled.”
In 2014, Seven aired an authorised biopic based on the INXS story, Never Tear Us Apart. It rated strongly, pulling in nearly 2m metro viewers for its first episode.
Llewellyn said of tonight’s doco: “Many of these people have never spoken before and to get them made the job harder than it possibly could have been if I went down the other route, I had to win their trust to begin with…so getting them to the point where they would speak, all of them, was difficult, but once I did that it was like a dam broke, it was cathartic for most them – not all of them – and it revealed stuff about Michael about his personality, about his brilliance, about his demons, about his life, about his music that has never been canvassed before and that from the word go was what I wanted to achieve.”
Last year Universal Music Group and Passion Pictures, announced another INXS documentary is in the works, which was set to be directed by Australian filmmaker Richard Lowenstein.
Llewellyn said he was aware the band and Murphy were associated with another documentary and his story “intertwined the history of the band” but focused on the history of Hutchence from “fresh perspectives”.
“There’s been a lot covered but a hell of a lot of questions that remain unanswered and there are significant periods in Michael life’s that were outside of the band and I’m talking about everything from the last moments, to the last year, to some of the wonderful moments in his life, all experienced by others and all outside of the band,” the executive added.
Mumbrella understands the rival Universal Music Group and Passion Pictures documentary has not been completed, and no broadcaster for it has been announced..
An INXS spokesperson told Mumbrella that announcements would be be made at an event to celebrate INXS’ 40th anniversary to be held at The State Theatre in Sydney in a fortnight’s time.
Ahead of its debut tonight the INXS spokesperson said “publication of any image or recording concerning INXS or the Band Members is not an authorized publication.”
“I have great faith in the lawyers at Channel Seven they’re wonderful people and there is nothing for INXS to fear, the accounts that people tell are honest and quite often very affectionate and the story about Michael is told by people who knew him intimately, so we trod a very careful, considered and journalistically ethical line, it would be a pity if people saw it otherwise,” Llewellyn told Mumbrella.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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Wow, I assumed that this new Doco was about Michaels’ life and not INXS….
Pull your heads in INXS …
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Fair go INXs you sucked the life out of Michael not everything is about INXS this story was about Michael and his life seperate from the band and perhaps if he had been allowed some personal creativity rather than being stifled by INXS he would have been far happier than what he was RIP Michael you are still sadly missed
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Sunday Night shared an executive with this unauthorised show and was a no-go zone for artists of any standing both in Australia and abroad under the former reign, regardless of the ratings it delivered. It was as tabloid as it gets and no wonder this ratings-grab had to be made without any of the band’s or label’s blessing. Having “great faith in the lawyers at Channel Seven” does not illustrate much regard for ethics and respect.
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I think all they’re saying is don’t use images/recordings of INXS as you haven’t received (or even asked) permission to do so.
Michael’s stuff would be his, his estate’s and his family’s but a lot material out there would be INXS (e.g. pretty hard to show a performance of Michael doing “Don’t Change” – my favourite INXS song I’d say, depending on mood – without including the other band members playing music or singing.
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There is plenty of INXS material on the web being used without permission and they should not be making Michaels story about them I wonder just how successful INXS would have been without Michael would they have been successful at all ? they should be thankful of the money he made them sad his life ended so tragically let the man Who was loved by many rest in peace!!!
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This is a tough one for me. I’ve actually been really disappointed in how the guys of INXS have been so aloof when it comes to authorising, commenting on or attending some of the gorgeous events organised by friends and fans over the years for Michael – the celebrations of his birthday at the Hard Rock in Sydney, the 10th anniversary memorial, the Metro event coming up, etc, etc. I understand that they might not want to go for various reasons, but they could at least let us know? And maybe make a media statement so that more fans can hear about the events and come along? They’ve been almost unreachable to Michael’s family since he passed. I love the guys but am baffled with a lot of their behaviour including how they’ve been all too prepared to put together their own stories (plus a lot of reissues and merch etc) but criticise everyone else’s, especially if they’ve proven to be difficult to reach.
I’m not expressing myself very well, sorry! I enjoyed the show and like most of us, loved seeing new material on Michael and the fabulous news that the unreleased music from his vaults will see the light of day – WOOHOO! ???
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