Carnival of Soul

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Taron Egerton lives large as Elton John in the musical “Rocketman,” due out May 31. USA TODAY

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Hollywood has classic-rock fever, with Freddie Mercury and Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” storming the box office and Oscars last winter, and two new films – Taron Egerton’s surreal Elton John biopic “Rocketman” and romantic comedy “Yesterday,” which images a world without The Beatles – in theaters now. And it’s not ending there: Plenty more real-life stories about some of music’s most venerable pop, rock and soul icons are set to light up the big screen in years to come, many of which already have impressive names attached. We look at five movies in development now and dream-cast who we’d like to star. 

Spoilers! All about that divisive, emotional Beatles surprise in ‘Yesterday’

Even Elton John’s rooster codpiece had sequins: How his ‘Rocketman’ costumes steal the movie

Elvis Presley

“Moulin Rouge!’ director Baz Luhrmann is bringing his visual panache to the story of the hip-swiveling icon with a film centered on the relationship between Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). According to The Hollywood Reporter, five actors are  being considered to play the King: Ansel Elgort (“Baby Driver”), Miles Teller (“Whiplash”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Nocturnal Animals”), Austin Butler (“Switched at Birth”), and former One Direction singer Harry Styles, who made his acting debut in 2017’s war epic “Dunkirk.” Although Teller bears the most striking physical resemblance to Presley of the bunch, we’d be more interested to see what Styles could do with the role, given his own journey from teen idol to swaggering rock star.

Madonna

The Material Girl has said she’d like to direct her own biopic, expressing distaste for a movie about her life that’s in development titled “Blond Ambition.” “Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen,” she wrote on Instagram. “Only I can tell my story.” Written by first-time screenwriter Elyse Hollander, the film follows a young Madge in 1980s New York as she struggles to make her first album and be taken seriously as a female artist – a role that could be perfectly inhabited by model-turned-actress Cara Delevingne, who shares the singer’s glamour and devil-may-care attitude and showed off her musical chops earlier this year in punk-rock drama “Her Smell.” 

Boy George

Make it happen, Hollywood: When asked last month about who should play him in an upcoming film about his life by writer/director Sacha Gervasi (“My Dinner With Herve”), the Culture Club frontman suggested “Game of Thrones” actress Sophie Turner. “(People will say) ‘she can’t play you, she’s a woman,’ but when I was 17, I would have loved to have been her,’ ” George said on an Australian radio show. Turner responded on Twitter that she would be “SO down,” and looking at photos of her and a young George side by side, frankly, so are we. Near-identical looks aside, George has long played with gender norms as an artist, so having an actress portray him wouldn’t be out of the question. Plus, it has been done before: Cate Blanchett earned an Oscar nomination for her unrecognizable role as Bob Dylan in the offbeat biopic “I’m Not There.” 

Aretha Franklin

Before her death last year, the Queen of Soul hand-selected singer Jennifer Hudson, an Oscar winner for “Dreamgirls,” to play her in a long-gestating biopic about Franklin’s life. The film, titled “Respect,” will be directed by Liesl Tommy (“Insecure”) and written by Callie Khouri (“Thelma & Louise”) and is expected for release next summer. Given Hudson’s powerhouse pipes and close connection to Franklin – she delivered a stirring “Amazing Grace” at her funeral – we honestly can’t imagine anyone but J. Hud playing her.

Carole King

Jukebox musical “Beautiful,” which tells King’s life story, opened on Broadway in 2014 and was scooped up by producer Tom Hanks for a forthcoming movie featuring some of the singer/songwriter’s most enduring hits, including “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “You’ve Got a Friend.” No casting has been announced, although we could easily see Ari Graynor (“For a Good Time, Call …”) or Zoe Kazan (“The Big Sick”), who previously tested to play King in a still-unproduced version of Sheila Weller’s book “Girls Like Us,” about her experience coming up on the folk scene along with Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell.

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