Dusty Springfield movie biopic to highlight star’s ‘fight for sexual equality’
"She was a remarkable woman, decades ahead of her time," director Jim Sheridan says
By Dale Fox
A movie based on the life of Dusty Springfield has been announced, with creators saying the film will chronicle the late star’s “fight for sexual equality”.
Titled Dusty, the movie will tell the “untold and moving story” of the 1960s soul singer, renowned for hits including ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ and ‘I Only Want to Be with You’.
The biopic will be helmed by Irish director Jim Sheridan, a six-time Oscar nominee known for 2005’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’, starring US rapper 50 Cent.
Dusty Springfield was the stage name of Mary O’Brien, born in London in 1939. The star “lived her life trapped in agonising silence before overcoming her convent school, Irish Catholic background, to transform herself into a daring alter ego,” the movie’s producers say.
The star helped define the sound of 1960s Britain, with hits like ‘You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me’ and ‘I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself’. But by the 1970s, her career had begun to wane, coinciding with her reported addictions to alcohol and cocaine.
“I know that I’m as perfectly capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy”
It was around this time that she came out to journalist Ray Connolly in a 1970 interview. This was a time when such things were practically unheard of.
“I know that I’m as perfectly capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy. More and more people feel that way and I don’t see why I shouldn’t,” she said.
After the interview concluded, she told Connolly: “What I’ve just said could put the final seal to my doom. I don’t know, though. I might attract a whole new audience.”
With her famous beehive and sultry stage presence, Dusty had already solidified herself as a gay icon early in her career.
During a 1979 performance at the Royal Albert Hall in the presence of Princess Margaret, Dusty made a comment about the demographic of her audience. “I must say, it’s really very nice to see that the royalty is not confined to the royal box tonight,” she said laughing, following with “Hey, Mary!”
“If anybody wants to buy a ticket, they should be allowed to do so”
The singer had previously caused an unintentional political storm when she refused to perform for segregated audiences in apartheid-era South Africa. She had a clause written into her contract saying she would only play to mixed audiences during a 1964 tour, leading to her deportation.
“I don’t know the first thing about politics. All I know is if anybody wants to buy a ticket, they should be allowed to do so,” Dusty said afterwards.
“She wore every cause on her sleeves and fought against racism, promoted gender equality and gay pride at great cost to her personal and professional life,” Sheridan said in a news release.
“She was a remarkable woman, decades ahead of her time.”
Dusty Springfield died in 1999 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995.
A previous Dusty Springfield biopic set to feature Gemma Arterton, So Much Love, was shelved in 2022 after being announced in 2018.
Production of Dusty is due to begin early 2025, with casting still underway.