The tenth anniversary of Michael Hutchence's death has marked the beginning of a new documentary about the man's life and his fame as the lead singer of INXS.

David Leaf, the Producer, Writer and Director of The U.S. vs. John Lennon is set to direct this documentary which will be entitled Elegantly Wasted. The film will feature interviews from such talents as Bono from U2 and will look to friends and celebrities alike.

The news was announced on November 22nd, the anniversary of Michael Hutchence's death and was accompanied by messages if rememberance by the surviving band members. From the Herald Sun come the comments:

"Like many I choose not to focus on the death of Michael and instead prefer to celebrate his wonderful life,'' Jon Farriss wrote.

"I miss Michael every day, but I'm one of the lucky ones who shared time with a beautiful soul who was on this earth far too short a time.''

Keyboardist Andrew Farris added: "As Michael's friend and song writing partner of many years there is so much I feel at this time. I do not have enough words to convey my appreciation for having knowing Michael ... God bless you Hutch.''

The film will follow the life of the talented Hutchence from his rise to fame, his time with INXS, and even his final moments at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Sydney. The question will be whether the film will look to the triumphs and strengths of his life and not concentrate too much on the darker side of his life. Let's hope that this is a fair and balanced film, and with the Director announcement it could well be.

This seems to be a different film from the film called Slide Away that was being developed and set to be directed by Nick Egan.

The producer Clark Westerman wrote an open letter about Slide Away and the efforts to get it made on Filmstalker back in May 2006. You can read that letter right here.

This followed rumours that Johnny Depp was set to play Michael Hutchence and Kate Moss was to play Paula Yates. The Johnny Depp rumour sounding inspired and the Kate Moss rumour sounding terrible.

Since then nothing further has been heard on the project, so it looks like this film from David Leaf might be the first to tackle the great lead singer of INXS with Elegantly Wasted, or will they both be vying for first release?