Sinéad O’Connor was in talks for biopic before her death
Demi Moore and Saoirse Ronan were reportedly among actors being considered for a film about the Irish music icon
Sinéad O’Connor was reportedly involved in talks for a biopic of her life just weeks before her death.
The Irish music icon died at the age of 56 on July 26, 2023, confirmed in a statement from her family in which they announced the passing of “our beloved Sinéad”.
O’Connor was found “unresponsive” and “pronounced dead at the scene” at her London home. No cause of death has been revealed.
The singer and activist was best known for her powerful rendition of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. Her death sparked a wave of memorials and tributes from Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Massive Attack, Russell Crowe, Jamie Lee Curtis and more.
Now, it’s been revealed that there were talks about adapting her 2021 autobiography Rememberings into a film, according to The Sun.
Demi Moore, Saoirse Ronan and Niamh Algar were all reportedly considered to play O’Connor at various stages of her life.
“Sinead was keen to explore making her memoir into her film and she had a raft of ideas about how it would look on screen,” a source told the newspaper.
“It was clear Sinéad had given real thought to the biopic and seemed keen to get involved in the script.”
A funeral procession for O’Connor was held in the Dublin coastal town of Bray, County Wicklow, last week. U2 frontman Bono, Taoiseach Varadkar, Irish President Michael D Higgins and Bob Geldof were among Irish figures seen at the procession.
“Sinead loved living in Bray and the people in it. With this procession, her family would like to acknowledge the outpouring of love for her from the people of Co Wicklow and beyond, since she left last week to go to another place,” a statement from her family read.
In an exclusive tribute for Rolling Stone, Phoebe Bridgers recalled how her devotion to O’Connor led her to shave her head in high school.
“I probably first heard her thanks to my mom, who had — and still has — the coolest music tastes. Even before I heard Sinéad’s music, I knew she was a revolutionary,” said Bridgers.
“I was obsessed with her and the ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ video. I even had a very, very short-shaved head in high school. I definitely shaved it for her. I have the worst-shaped head, so there weren’t many people I would have shaved my head for.
After tributes poured in for the singer, Morrissey rallied against the music industry for what he perceived to be hypocritical eulogising, asserting: “There is a certain music industry hatred for singers who don’t ‘fit in’ (this I know only too well), and they are never praised until death – when, finally, they can’t answer back.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Lily Allen, who wrote in a tweet that she was “incensed” by the “spineless” tributes coming in for the late singer. She added: “If you can’t stand up for people in life don’t do it in death.”