It is practically a dream come true for anyone hailing from outside the United States to find themselves being selected as the new front-man to a well-established and long-performing musical group. That was the dream-become-reality for Arnel Pineda, a singer-songwriter and band veteran who in 2007 was chosen to become the lead vocalist of American rock band Journey, following what the man himself called a “nerve-wracking and tense” audition. Close to 15 years since he was called upon by Journey lead guitarist Neal Schon, Arnel will be seeing his life story being adapted into a Hollywood biopic by Warner Bros. Pictures, one that might also (partly) film in the Philippines.
The Manila Bulletin reports that discussions are picking up within Warner
Bros. to produce a movie about Arnel Pineda and his journey from cover band
voice to becoming the voice of Journey to this day. While not yet in full
development the project has already listed two major creative forces tapped by
the studio, namely “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018) filmmaker John Chu as director
and “Joker” (2019) co-writer Scott Silver on story writing duty. As part of the
prep, Warner is sending some executives to Manila to confer with Pineda.
“It’s going to happen. I think
they’re gonna start. Some people from Warner will start coming here,” Arnel
remarks in an interview with Rolling
Stone. Regarding the planned visit by Warner’s production team, the
53-year-old performer notes that not only might the executives work out an
audition for other local movie talent in the country, it would allow him to
take the initial crew around Manila so that they can see the places that
figured in his early life, should that be focused on during parts of the
planned film.
Pineda adds that some of the
story ideas he had shared with Scott Silver was how he survived in Manila
during the time of several anti-government coup attempts, as well as his decade
as part of a cover band in Hong Kong. He is still in something of a daze
regarding the development of a major Hollywood biopic about him. That is quite
the pick-up for Arnel seeing as he has recently finished recording work on a
new album that might be released in 2021.
Image: Ultimate Classic Rock
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