Dominic West (“The Crown”),Alexander Dreymon (“The Last Kingdom”),Ludwig Trepte (“Generation War”),Ed Speleers (“You”),David Kross (“The Reader”) and Luke Brandon Field (“Interview With The Vampire”, “Jojo Rabbit”) have been cast in lead roles in the highly anticipated feature film “Wind Of Change”, which recently started production at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London.
Directed by Alex Ranarivelo and produced by ESX Entertainment for FOX Entertainment Studios in association with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, “Wind Of Change” is a music biopic chronicling the incredible journey of the legendary rock group the SCORPIONS, with the longest-running and most successful line-up of the band including guitarist Rudolf Schenker (Dreymon),Klaus Meine (Trepte),Matthias Jabs (Speleers) and drummer Herman Rarebell (Field). It tells the story of a band united by their passion for music, who sought to inspire change in the world through their powerful sound and meaningful lyrics. At the heart of the film is their iconic anthem “Wind Of Change”, which became the soundtrack to the end of the Cold War, symbolizing hope, peace and unity. Through their music, with hits ranging from “Rock You Like A Hurricane” to “Still Loving You”, the SCORPIONS helped bridge the divide between East and West, leaving an indelible mark on history and proving the transformative power of art. West is set to play Doc McGhee, the SCORPIONS famous music manager and Kross will star as Andrej, the band’s imprisoned friend on the other side of the Berlin wall.
“It’s been an unbelievable journey developing this film and bringing it to life feels surreal” says Ali Afshar, founder and president of ESX Entertainment. “Not only did the SCORPIONS‘ music help me get through tremendous difficulties as an Iranian immigrant in America in the early ’80s, but their message of love, peace and rock ‘n’ roll seems more relevant today than ever. This cast is an amazing ensemble of truly great talent. I can’t thank FOX Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment enough for their support and especially the band — Rudolf, Klaus and Matthias — for believing in us and trusting us to tell their life story.”
The SCORPIONS have built a remarkable legacy as one of the most enduring rock bands of the past fifty years. With 110 million albums sold worldwide, they remain one of Germany’s most successful musical exports. Their breakout hits like “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and “Wind of Change” continue to resonate, the latter surpassing one billion streams across platforms and remaining a cultural touchstone. Even today, their music regularly appears on rock radio and streaming playlists, and they continue to tour globally. Their staying power has earned them a lasting place in rock history.
“Wind Of Change” is produced by ESX Entertainment‘s Ali Afshar, Christina Moore and Daniel Aspromonte for FOX Entertainment Studios in association with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The film is written by Mark Andrews and directed by Alex Ranarivelo. FOX Entertainment Global retains worldwide distribution rights excluding U.S. and global transactional rights, which Warner Bros. Discovery Global Content Sales will manage.
ESX Entertainment is a prolific production company housed on the Warner Bros. lot that has released over two dozen films since 2017. Their gems have been released in theaters, HBO MAX, Netflix and Amazon, with numerous titles becoming number one hits on these platforms.
This past April, Meine spoke to Igor Miranda of Brazil’s Rolling Stone about the band’s biopic. Klaus said: ”There’s a guy, a producer in Los Angeles, who’s working on this project for quite a while. It’s very close to his heart. So he is in this with all his heart and passion for rock music and for his love for the SCORPIONS and for our music and for our work of life. And so he wants to make, not a documentary, he wants to make a biopic about the band and tell the story of the band. And hopefully they get it done throughout the next couple months so it will work out with the 60th anniversary of the band. It will be wonderful.”
Klaus added: “They will tell the story of the SCORPIONS from a different point of view. He’s a Persian producer, lives in Los Angeles, works very close with Warner Brothers for many, many years. Very experienced kind of producer, and he has a great team and they’re all in this with their heart and souls, and wanna make a great movie about the band for the fans around the world to share it with us.”
In February, Meine told Scorpions Brazil, about the status of “Wind Of Change”: “Well, movies [are] also something that takes some time until things get rolling. And right now we hope later this year the biopic will be out all over the world. Right now [they are] working on the script and working on the actors, to find the right characters who play the band. It’s not so easy to find five Brad Pitts.”
Asked if he and the rest of SCORPIONS are involved in the casting and the screenplay, Klaus said: “Yeah, we participate in the script and when they go for the first checking out who can play Rudolf, Matthias and myself. So we stay in close touch with our friend Ali Afshar, who is the producer of this movie. And he has a great team, and he has a big heart, and he loves the band and he will make a very special biopic, because he’s in it, together with this team, really with heart and soul. You can tell.”
Meine went on to say that he doesn’t know exactly when “Wind Of Change” will be released. “Unfortunately, it’s too early,” he explained. “They start shooting around May, and then I have no idea. Hopefully in the fall. It would be great. But with these filmmaking issues, you really never know. There are a million things that can go great or can go wrong. So what do we know? We’re part of it and we support the team. But they have a clear concept about the movie and the script is pretty cool as well. But if there are things to change along the way… We’re part of it, but we stand watching with a lot of excitement. And hopefully it will be as great as the filmmakers think it will be.”
When “Wind Of Change” was first announced in June 2024, Afshar said: “The SCORPIONS‘ music has penetrated our culture in a big way. There is an evocative quality to their sound that is unmatched in the genre, which is one of the reasons hits like ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ and ‘Still Loving You’ continue to get so much airplay and fill movie soundtracks, and their music continues to connect with a new generation of fans across the globe.
“When my family fled Iran and came to the United States, the SCORPIONS‘ music changed my life — if not saved it,” he continued. “I’m hoping that by telling the SCORPIONS‘ story, we can bring some of that same inspiration to the world.”
SCORPIONS wrote their classic ballad “Wind Of Change” after performing at 1989’s Moscow Music Peace Festival in Moscow, where they shared the stage with other hard rock acts like BON JOVI and MÖTLEY CRÜE. The song was inspired by the sight of thousands of Russians cheering them on in 1988 — when they became the first hard rock band to play in Russia — and in 1989, at the aforementioned festival, even though they were a German band.
When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, “Wind Of Change” accompanied the moving scenes of East Germans passing through the Brandenburg Gate and entering the West for the first time.
In May 2020, a theory that “Wind Of Change” was actually penned by the CIA as a piece of late Cold War propaganda was raised in an eight-part podcast series, also called “Wind Of Change”, which premiered on Spotify. The podcast was hosted by New Yorker journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, who said he launched the investigation after hearing a second-hand story from a friend who used to work for the CIA — that “Wind Of Change” was actually written by the CIA to encourage change throughout the Soviet Union.
SCORPIONS‘ only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has appeared on all of the band’s studio albums, while Jabs has been a consistent member since 1978, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016, respectively.
SCORPIONS‘ latest album, “Rock Believer”, was released in February 2022. The album was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.
Photo credit: Marc Theis (courtesy of Wilful Publicity)
