SLIPKNOT percuissionist and founder Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan says he already has some ideas on how a biopic about the band should be made
“Clown” made it clear that he would not want the film to be produced by a major Hollywood studio, as he would rather just take the reigns and do it himself. The SLIPKNOT percussionist also added that he would like the project to be presented as a mini-series instead of a full length feature film.
When asked by NME in a new interview about the possibility of a SLIPKNOT biopic, “Clown” said: “It wasn’t that long ago that I was very frustrated with this sort of idea, because the business, if you will, was pressuring us for something like that.”
He continues, “I could never get anybody to create us, so I’m kind of holding that to the film. I’ve had so many ideas brought to me, and there’s so many people who are frustrated with me about it. They’ve actually told me, ‘Maybe it’d be better if you’re not involved.’ And I’m just like, ‘Yeah, we’ll see how that works for you.’
“Because if I’m not involved, that means I’m not involved” he continues. “That means, ‘Good luck with whatever the fuck you’re trying to do, because I’m not going to approve a word of it.’ . . . It’s like, ‘You never played with us in the band, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! You’re just impressed that some putz director hit a mark in some visual way for theatres to sell popcorn. Get the fuck out of here. This is my life.'”
Further on in the interview, “Clown” touched on some ideas about the project, stating that he would want the final product to focus on all nine members of SLIPKNOT, instead of concentrating on just one of them.
“There’s a lot of dudes [in Slipknot] that need to be represented equally – not one is greater than the other, and you can’t explain the band without explaining all of them” he says.
“And then there’s our first manager [Sophia John], who passed away – that story would have to be in there – and then there’s a motley crew of about a dozen other motherfuckers. . . . It’s insane. So we’re gonna do it, but we’re gonna do it our way.”
Crahan states that an “eight-to-15” episode miniseries, similar to HBO’s True Detective, would be the direction he would want to take the project. “That way,” he continues, “you can go in the past and see [the late] Paul Gray playing a right-handed guitar when he’s left-handed.”
“Clown” also asserts that he has “some very insane ideas for how to make it work” as long as he’s assisted by “some very creative people.”
“I’m not a writer” he continues. “I can only give you the stories. But if I sat down with some really creative [screenwriters], I would be able to tell them all these ideas and we could come up with something that would make people say, ‘Yes, we’ll give you the money to make that”.
As of this point, no official announcement or time of planned release has been revealed. But hold tight, because it sounds like something’s coming in the days ahead.