WHAM! (2023) on Netflix
NR20231h 32mDocumentaryMusic
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley meet at school and form a pop duo, taping a demo in Ridgeley's front room that lands them a record deal. Their first single misses the chart.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb7.5/1010,258 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes87%
Trailer
Plot summary
Archive footage and audio interviews follow George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley from their first meeting at Bushey Meads School, when they were 12 and 11, to the pop duo Wham! A demo tape made in Ridgeley's front room holds a full version of "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" and part of "Careless Whisper". In March 1982 the pair sign with Innervision Records. The debut single misses the UK Singles Chart. An appearance on Top of the Pops in November 1982 performing "Young Guns (Go for It)" lifts that song from number 42 to number 3. Scrapbooks kept by Ridgeley's mother, filled with articles and photographs, hold the story together.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about WHAM! (2023)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Chris Smith said one of the biggest surprises of the project were the roughly 50 scrapbooks that Andrew Ridgeley's mother put together, documenting Wham!'s entire four years.
- Among the archive tapes the team located was a VHS of Wham!'s 1983 Hammersmith Odeon concert from the Club Fantastic Tour, owned by the band's bass player Dave West, found not long before the film was completed.
- Chris Smith began the film expecting to use on-screen interviews, but during editing decided to build it instead from archive interviews of George Michael from over the years and a new audio interview with Andrew Ridgeley.
