Riverdale star KJ Aapa is set to star as Bradley Nowell, the former lead singer of Sublime, in a biopic about the hit band. Sublime was a groundbreaking band of the early 1990s, mixing punk, reggae, and ska together in a signature sound that gave classic songs like “What I Got” and “Santeria.” Lead singer and guitarist Bradley Nowell tragically passed away at the age of 28 in 1996 following a heroin overdose. His legacy lives on through the band’s incredible successes, and his son, Jakob Nowell, has been Sublime’s new lead singer starting in 2023.
According to Deadline, Apa will star as Nowell in a new film centered around Sublime. Nowell’s original Sublime members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson will act as executive producers on the movie, as will Bradley’s widow Troy Nowell and son Jakob on behalf of the Nowell estate. Justin Chon, who previously played Eric Yorkie in The Twilight Saga films and has since moved to direct movies like Blue Bayou, will direct and write the film.
Not K.J. Apa’s First Musical Biopic
KJ Apa’s breakout role as Archie Andrews on Riverdale showcased the actor’s musical ability, as a good portion of Archie’s subplots in the early part of the series revolved around him trying to start a band, performing his guitar and singing in many of the musical episodes. Playing Bradley Nowell is also not the first time Kapa has played a real-life musician in a biopic. In 2020, he starred as Christian-based singer Jeffery Camp in the faith-based romance I Still Believe, which was the story of Camp and his first wife, Melissa Lynn Henning-Camp, who passed away from ovarian cancer shortly after they married. Portraying Bradley Nowell will certainly be a different task than playing Jeffery Camp, but Apa, at least musically, has the chops for it, and his role in movies like The Hate U Give shows that he is a rising talent with a lot of potential.
Musical biopics are a major part of the film industry. Movies like Elvis, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Straight Outta Compton brought in big box office numbers that could rival big-budget action and IP-driven films. They are also favorites among award voters, with movies like Walk the Line, Ray, and possibly the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown with Timothee Chalamet. News of the Sublime biopic follows shortly after Shailene Woodley was cast in the long-in-development hell Janis Joplin biopic. It seems this trend will not be slowing down anytime soon.