Think he’d be a good fit to play MacGowan?
Whenever you think of the final episode of The Wire, there’s one particular scene that always stands out and we’re not just talking about that epic montage that interweaved the fates of all of those beloved characters at the very end.
No, we’re thinking of Bunk Moreland puking his guts up in the streets of Baltimore after he hit the whiskey a bit too hard at McNulty’s ‘wake.’
As sad as it was seeing another one Baltimore’s most natural police leaving the force, there’s something cathartic about the fact that Bunk and McNulty made amends while The Pogues’ iconic track The Body of An American was still blaring.
As stated previously, the creator of The Wire, David Simon, is such a fan of the (mainly) Irish punk-folk band that he’s writing a musical about The Pogues.
As a lyricist, despite the fact that he was born in England, MacGowan was always able to tap into that uniquely Irish sense of romantic melancholy that’s tinged with joy, sorrow and well, mischief.
Casting him in any musical is always going to be a tough decision but a Game of Thrones star has said that he’s more than happy to take on the responsibility.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVEwpYt0EwE
Clip via P. Isaacs
Michiel Huisman is already known to audiences around the world following his performance as Daario Naharis in Game of Thrones but he has also worked on the critically-acclaimed drama Treme – that show also created by Simon.
At present, Huisman can be seen in Netflix’s superb horror series The Haunting of Hill House – you can read our review of that here – but ahead of its release, we caught up with the Dutch actor to see if he fancies his own Fairytale of New York by reuniting with Simon on The Pogues musical.
Aside from having an extremely good working relationship with Simon, it turns out that the Dutch actor is also good friends with Spider Stacy, the band’s co-founder.
“Oh my god! Would I fancy that role (MacGowan)? Of course. That would be a role to sink your teeth into. But, I’m also close friends with Spider because he moved to New Orleans a few years ago and we kept in touch. You know, he’d be a great character to play too!,” said Huisman.
Aside from excelling in shows like Game of Thrones, The Haunting of Hill House and Treme, Huisman is also an extremely accomplished musician having been the lead singer and guitarist for the Dutch band Fontane.
After the band split, Huisman also released a couple of solo singles and provided a few songs for various soundtracks.
All things considered, we think it’s fair to say it’s not the biggest leap to see him playing Shane MacGowan – after all, he has the connections and the musical chops.
If I should fall from grace with God, he’d be a decent shout. What do you reckon?
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