Boy George says Harry Styles is 'too scared' to play him in new movie

Culture Club frontman Boy George claims Harry Styles was approached to play him in an upcoming biopic but "ran" as he was "too scared". Photos / Getty Images

Legendary '80s pop star and former Culture Club member Boy George has accused Harry Styles of being "too scared" to play him in an upcoming biopic.

The 60-year-old singer/songwriter claims Styles was in talks to portray him in a new movie but alleges the former One Direction singer "ran" and now Yungblud is in talks to take on the leading role.

He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "They are looking at a kid called Yungblud. He is a big English sensation. He is quite young and he has been auditioning. There was talk of Harry Styles, but I think he ran. He was too scared."

British pop sensation Yunglbud is now said to be in talks to play Boy George in the upcoming film. Photo / Getty Images

The biopic, titled Karma Chameleon after Culture Club's 1983 hit song, will document Boy George's - born George Alan O'Dowd - rise to fame.

It had been due to start filming this year but the Covid-19 pandemic and casting issues have delayed it.

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Boy George said: "I don't want it to be like a fantasy of somebody else. I feel like it should be honest and truthful as I am hilarious. I say tell the truth as the truth is far more interesting than things that are made up, you know."

Boy George has lived an eventful life and his four-month prison sentence in 2009 - for falsely imprisoning a male escort - is likely to feature in the biopic.

Speaking about it previously, he said: "I always maintained that jail would finish me off, but it didn't.

"You somehow find the strength. It was a life-changing experience and I feel I came out of that situation with some wisdom and knowledge.

"I really don't view that period in my life as negative… But I wouldn't want to go back."

The star admitted his "troubles" – which also included being sentenced to community service in 2006 after police in New York found cocaine in his home – were a valuable life lesson, but they also reminded him he hasn't fully shaken off the "nihilistic attitude" of his youth, which he wants to hold on to.

Boy George is best known as frontman of '80s new wave group Culture Club and forhis ground-breaking fashion and use of makeup. Photo / Getty Images

He said: "I have always had a mistake in me, but that's okay. As far as the troubles I had back in 2006 and 2009, of course they are things I'm not proud of.

"Yet at the same time they remind me that I hadn't shaken off that nihilistic attitude of the past, nor would I ever want to.

"And every mistake is a positive life lesson … It really is."