The British pop stars hired the Palme d’Or winner to record their groundbreaking shows in east Asia. After it all ended in tears, the unseen film was locked up in a Scottish university
It’s hard to imagine a stranger pairing: Lindsay Anderson, the pioneering director acclaimed for his provocative leftwing critiques of postwar Britain, and Wham!, the young pop duo behind Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Last Christmas.
Yet the two parties came together in 1985, when Anderson, then 61, was hired to direct a documentary about George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s groundbreaking tour of China, which made the 21- and 22-year-olds the first western pop act to play in the country.
