Still one of the biggest names in fashion six years after his shocking suicide at age 40, designer Alexander McQueen left a massive legacy on the industry he made his own. From the humblest of origins as the gay son of a working-class cabbie, McQueen worked his way to an apprenticeship in London’s Savile Row, the be-all end-all of British style. It was there that he earned a reputation as a world-class tailor, and ultimately attracted the attentions of major figures such as Prince Charles, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the dearly departed David Bowie. He’d take over Givenchy before moving on to his own massively successful label, terraforming the landscape of the fashion biz wherever he went.

Deadline now reports that the flashy, tragic life story of Alexander McQueen will make up the foundation of the next film from emerging British master Andrew Haigh, who has just announced that he’ll direct a biopic of the late designer. With a Chris Urch-penned script drawing inspiration from Andrew Wilson biography Blood Beneath the Skin, the still-untitled film appears to land right in Haigh’s wheelhouse. Both his recent, excellent 45 Years (which earned Charlotte Rampling a Best Actress Academy Award nomination last week) and his breakout feature Weekend focus on passions with destructive potential, and how those passions eventually consume the characters that hold onto them. What’s more, Haigh, an openly gay man himself, will return to the difficult meditations on queer love and identity that he explored with the searing relationship drama Weekend.

After watching something as rote and unmemorable as the recent Trumbo, it might feel like the world already has enough biopics. But with a director as talented and challenging as Haigh, audiences can be sure he’ll transcend the cliches of this unusually hide-bound genre. This sounds like a perfect combination of subject and director — all that’s left is the perfect leading man. Squint a little and look back at the header photo above. Is Joel Edgerton doing anything these days?

More From Eagle 102.3