This December will mark 10 years since the passing of musician George Michael. The pop superstar is well known the world over for his breakout solo album, Faith, and several successful follow-ups. Before that, though, was Wham!. Formed alongside Andrew Ridgely, the pop duo had hits with “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Everything She Wants,” amongst others. But you’d be forgiven if you thought of these as George Michael songs since Wham! didn’t quite take America by storm the way they did the native UK. But did you know they attempted to break through to the U.S. via China?
Worldwide Popularity
Yes, it seems like ancient history now, but there was a time when George Michael wasn’t quite the towering star that he turned into. In early 1985, Wham! was charting hit singles in the U.S. but still weren’t as big as they aimed to be. So, they did something extremely bold and decided to perform in China. This would have made them the first Western pop band to play in the country. A documentary filmmaker was sent along with them to film the historic moment. It didn’t go well.
That’s what brings us to the upcoming film, Wham! 10 Days in China. It’s technically a new documentary of an old documentary. That first attempt we mentioned that didn’t go well? That was going to be titled If You Were There… but the project was cancelled by Wham! and got shelved. Some of the footage was taken and used for a different documentary, Wham! in China: Foreign Skies. Now footage that was never before used has been discovered thanks to Ridgely and George Michael’s estate. Director Mike Christie has used this footage to create an entirely new documentary.
Old Footage, New Film
“Everyone knew the rushes existed and that they were effectively buried in a warehouse, and everyone knew that the whole trip happened and that it was intriguing, but no-one really knew what went on.” Said Christie about the experience. This footage was originally shot by Lindsay Anderson, who was helming the first documentary attempt. Christie notes that this new documentary has a different approach to telling the story.
“The approach we were proposing worked because it was looking at the bigger picture rather than just endlessly focusing on George and Andrew. Suddenly it stops being a celebrity vehicle.” This heavily implies, without directly saying, that the prior films focused too much on the band and less on the actual significance of the trip and the experience.
Wham! Blink, and You’ll Miss it
Wham! 10 Days in China is going to have an extremely limited, one-day theatrical release in parts of the world including the U.S. and U.K. After that, it’s set to air on BBC Two. We don’t have any information yet on distribution beyond that. Hopefully it gets some kind of attention in the U.S., especially given how the point of going to China was partly to make headway into the United States based on the press and buzz alone.
We’ll let you know if we hear more. Or to put it another way, we’ll wake you up before it go-goes.
