Spice Up Your Biopic: where’s the remake we really really want?

Over the past decade, we’ve entered a full-blown epidemic of music biopics. Films like Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis and A Complete Unknown have dominated awards seasons, bus ads, and box offices. Since the turn of the century, twenty-seven major music biopics have been released. But while twenty-two of them are about male musicians, only five are about women. And that’s not counting the pipeline of upcoming films: a Bruce Springsteen biopic (Deliver Me From Nowhere) with Jeremy Allen White apparently gunning for the Oscar Timothée Chalamet couldn’t snag, a Scorpions movie set for release later this year, and a Michael Jackson film in development.

Meanwhile, Sam Mendes is going full Marvel, developing not one but four separate films, each documenting the life of a different Beatle, in what seems to be his attempt to create the BCU – the Beatles Cinematic Universe.

But aren’t we all exhausted with the same story? A man is musically talented, he gets discovered far too easily for his talent, he meets a girl along the way, they fall in love, he becomes famous, he becomes swept up in the fame, he cheats on his girlfriend, he develops a substance abuse issue, he loses her, he becomes melancholic and writes a song about losing her, he either learns to be a better person or… dies.

As much as I enjoyed it the first time, – and even the second – watching another film about a tortured male musical genius feels tired. I think it’s fair to say we’re experiencing a collective cultural fatigue of male music biopics.

And then there are the few female-led music biopics we do get, like the Amy Winehouse film Back to Black and Respect about Aretha Franklin. They often feel strangely hollow. So many are obsessed with suffering, betrayal, downfall, leaving little room for joy, creativity, or triumph. This isn’t reflective of the world we’re living in now. We’re in the golden age of the female pop star. Charli XCX created an album that defined a whole season and Sabrina Carpenter kitschy nostalgic pop continues to make headlines, and Doechii has been catapulted to stardom after genre-blurring breakout performances. Then there’s artists like Beyoncé – the most-awarded artists in Grammy history – and Taylor Swift, who in 2024 surpassed Elvis Presley the most weeks at no.1 on the Billboard 200 for a solo artist. Both have spent the past decade redefining what fan devotion, artist control and global influence looks like. And yet, they still aren’t taken as seriously as their male counterparts, despite record-breaking tours and pop culture dominance.

Then there’s the glaring absence of girl bands. They’re still left out of the picture entirely. The reverence we give boy bands – from The Beatles to Queen, Oasis to Arctic Monkeys – is almost religious. We take them seriously, place them among the greats. But the same can’t be said for girl groups.

If we wanted to make a music biopic that actually reflected the lineage of today’s pop powerhouses – why hasn’t there been a Spice Girls movie? How have we not committed the lives of five feminist icons to screen? The Spice Girls didn’t just shape the music industry; they defined an era. Spicemania swept through the ’90s with mini dresses, union jack patterns, and a poppy version of feminism that taught a generation of young women the importance of ‘girl power’. Isn’t it time we gave them the cinematic credit they’re owed?

But how could a Spice Girls biopic be discussed without acknowledging the first time they graced our screens. Spice World, the 1997 film, directed by Bob Spiers and written by Kim Fuller, was a camp glittery filmic spectacle – like A Hard Day’s Night for gen x. Yet, somehow, I’d never actually seen it. And now on the back of a resurgence in ‘Cool Britannia’ – an Oasis comeback and the Lionesses’s victory at the UEFA Women’s Euros – surely it’s time to fulfill my national duty.

So, on a humid Wednesday night, I decided to watch, for the first time, Spice World, a cinematic fever dream – part pop video, part pantomime, part 90s girl power manifesto. And it has not left my mind ever since. I’ve never felt prouder to be British and a woman, and the owner of platform boots!

The film follows the five Spice Girls – Baby (Emma Bunton), Posh (Victoria Beckham), Sporty (Melanie Chisholm), Scary (Melanie Brown), and Ginger (Geri Halliwell) – as they embark of a whirlwind of adventures, cruise around in their Union Jack–covered tour bus, and, of course, learn the true importance of friendship.

With a tragic 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Spice World was panned by the majority male film critics. The late Roger Ebert famously gave it just ½ a star, calling the film “an entertainment-free dead zone,” a review as wildly off the mark as the Chicago Tribune describing Citizen Kane in 1941 as “bizarre” and lacking entertainment value. Surely the sheer architectural majesty of Richard E. Grant playing the band’s manager with gloriously angular sideburns warrants at least three stars on its own!

Then there are the floods of others cameos; including Stephen Fry as a judge in a dream sequence; Jennifer Saunders as a bullshitting fashion-obsessed, party goer, Meat Loaf as their long-suffering tour bus driver; Elton John as himself; and Roger Moore as The Chief a cryptic, Bond-villain-esque record producer who, in one scene, bottle-feeds a pig in his lair. Roger Ebert—were you not entertained?!

This isn’t to say that the film is all camp and no substance, the film of course carries a deep almost philosophical undercurrent. What stood out to me, besides the incredible outfits and the completely unprovoked alien sequence, is how Spice World is obviously a reference to a microcosm of the Freudian psyche. Surely written with the intention of making the five personas collectively embody the id, ego, and superego. Their spontaneous and fun-loving energy channels the id; their message of “girl power” and their status as role models – in a culture where feminist ideals are constantly rebranded, repackaged, and resold for mass consumption – serve as the guiding morality of the superego. Then there’s the girls’ balancing act between fame, friendship, and identity, which of course plays the role of the ego, trying to hold it all together. You could say that Spice World is not only a pop culture artifact, but a psychoanalytic text forcing us to question our own internal balance of desire, duty, and identity under late-stage capitalism.

So, with all that said, it’s no wonder there hasn’t been a Spice Girls biopic yet. How could any film possibly live up to the legacy of this 1997 absurdist masterpiece? But it’s a challenge that needs to be taken on, as a necessary tribute to the cultural impact these women had (and continue to have).

The team at A Rabbit’s Foot approached me to write something on the state of music biopics, but with one particular focus in mind: the Spice Girls. It didn’t take long for that question to dominate my thoughts: Why hasn’t there been a Spice Girls film? I floated the idea back to the team, and what followed was a full-blown debate, enthusiastic, chaotic, and totally unanimous. Everyone had a favourite Spice Girl. Everyone remembered the lyrics. Everyone agreed that the absence of a Spice Girls biopic wasn’t just an oversight – it was a cultural failure. That moment of collective conviction became the heartbeat of this piece.

In the spirit of that debate, and continuing it, what follows is a set of dream castings, imagined by me and the A Rabbit’s Foot team. One for a mainstream commercial release, another for an indie art-house version, possibly produced by A24 or Neon, and finally, an all-star pop icon edition, if musical talent were our top priority. You heard it here first.

A lot of thought (too much, arguably) has gone into this. But we don’t want to have the final say. Consider this an open casting call, we want to hear your takes too.

Popularised the Phrase “Girl Power” as a Global Feminist Slogan
During an era of third wave feminism, they propelled this phrase to the mainstream. Leaving a lasting impact on a generation of young women.

First British Girl Group to Debut at #1 on the US Billboard 200
Their debut album Spice (1996) was the first by a British girl group to enter the US charts at #1. A feat not achieved since The Beatles with their debut album in the 60s.

First Female Group to Have a Debut Single Reach #1 in the UK and the US Simultaneously
Wannabe topped charts in both countries, breaking new ground for the female pop group’s global breakthrough.

First Girl Group to Sell Over 85 Million Records Worldwide
They became the best-selling female group of all time, setting a new global standard for pop stardom.

First Girl Group to Star in Their Own Feature Film While Still at the Peak of Their Career
Spiceworld (1997) was among the first pop group movies of its kind, blending narrative, musical numbers and comedy, while the group was still active and chart-topping.

First Female Pop Group to Launch a Global Merchandise Empire
Their extensive branding and merchandising – including dolls, fragrances and more – led the way for future pop acts to build lifestyle brands around their music.

First Girl Group to Achieve Massive International Success Without Relying on a Single Lead Vocalist
With each member possessing a distinct personality and role, much of The Spice Girls’s success came from their collective charisma rather than a singular voice.