Lars Ulrich reveals who could play Metallica in movie biopic

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has joked about who he thinks could play the band in a hypothetical movie biopic.

Lars recently sat down for a chat with Collider to discuss Metallica’s symphonic live album ‘S&M2’ when the subject moved onto a possible Metallica film, similar to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and Elton John’s Rocketman.

Although Lars had his doubts about Metallica delving into the world of movie biopics, he confirmed that that band have already discussed who would play them on the silver screen.

“(The actor who played me would) need a five-foot-seven, small, balding… I mean, we sort of joke about this all the time,” Lars said.

“We used to have kind of the standard answer back in the day, just because you’d get asked that every three months in interviews. James Spader would play me, the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz would play (James) Hetfield, and we’d joke about how Carlos Santana would play Kirk (Hammett).

“We had all kinds of fun, but the question would beckon, what time period are we talking? Is it Metallica in their youthful times, or now? There’s so many incredibly talented people out there, and it’s incredible how some actors can just transform. I think what Taron (Egerton) did as Elton John stands out as just being incredible casting, an incredible fit.”

Discussing the chances of a Metallica movie further, Lars continued: “The biopic thing, I think that’s more of a cautionary tale, which kind of falls in under the whole thing with autobiographies. I’m not sold on the idea.

“The idea of writing an autobiography I think is challenging, because I think you would have to be completely truthful, and to be 100 percent truthful, it’s hard to tell the stories without bringing other people into it, and then you sort of get into that whole thing where maybe the protagonist in that particular story wouldn’t want the story told.

“So to me, it’s kind of a dilemma of, these stories deserve the truth if you’re going to talk about them, but at the same time, you can’t take for granted that everybody who’s involved in those stories wants those stories out there.”

Lars continued: “It’s a little bit like, you and I take a picture together, and then I put it up on my social media without asking you. So there’s something about that I haven’t quite figured out yet, but obviously as a creative undertaking, I would love to throw myself out into what Metallica would look like in the medium of film.

“That’s one of the main reasons we did (2013 American thriller concert film) Through the Never six or seven years ago, but if it’s going to be more of autobiography, I think that’s going to be way more challenging because there’s so many biopics where you kind of sit and roll your eyes.

“I guess somewhere I’m just kind of a stickler for the truth, for some reason, so if you’re not gonna tell the truth, then maybe you shouldn’t say anything at all. That’s where it gets a little complicated for me, but let’s see how it plays out.”

Recorded with the San Francisco Symphony at the grand opening of The Chase Center in September 2019, Metallica’s ‘S&M2’ reached number 2 on the UK album chart last week.

Metallica rock London and Manchester in 2019:

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• Metallica
• James Hetfield
• Lars Ulrich
• Kirk Hammett