MINNEAPOLIS — “Stranger Things” actor/singer Finn Wolfhard is viewing his script for a Replacements biopic as if they were a fictional band.

“The way me and my dad [co-writer Eric Wolfhard] are approaching this movie is, ‘Well, what would this movie be like if it was a fictional band?’ ” Wolfhard told Billboard.com. “You know, treating the characters as characters, and not being like, ‘And this is the scene where they have a triumphant … this thing,’ but just making it about these characters, and very contained.”

Last fall, Variety announced that the Wolfhards had acquired the rights to the movie based on Bob Mehr’s in-depth 2016 Replacements tome, “Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements.” The Canadian filmmakers are working with producer Rich Peete, known for “Killer Sally” and “The Legend of Ochi” (in which Wolfhard appeared).

Wolfhard said they are searching for a director for the project. He realizes that it’s a tough sell with the Replacements, the Minneapolis quartet with the punk ethos who were unpredictable in concert but led by the oft-brilliant songwriter/singer Paul Westerberg.

“They are sort of the antithesis of a band that would have a biopic, in a lot of ways,” Wolfhard told Billboard. “And so, trying to tell a story that is authentic to them and also will maybe introduce their music to some people that wouldn’t necessarily know as much Replacements material, I think to me is the goal.”

Starting as a garage band in 1979, the ’Mats jumped from the local Twin/Tone label after 1984’s acclaimed “Let It Be” to Sire Records, the home of Madonna and Talking Heads, recording the lauded “Tim” and “Pleased to Meet Me.” The ’Mats broke up in 1991, and Westerberg spearheaded a reunion tour 2013-15.

“I think they are the most authentic band that ever lived — to the point of their own detriment,” the 23-year-old Wolfhard said. “I think I relate to the self-destructive nature of people because I think that this idea of failing, and failure, and all the pressure to be a certain way, or do a certain thing, and then going … ‘I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do. And if I’m gonna fail, I’m gonna do it myself. I’m gonna be the one that controls it’ — to me is a very liberating thing. And in the end, kind of a tragedy, but also, there’s something about it that is, I would say, the most relatable human thing. And to me, it’s why they are the best rock band of all time.”

Wolfhard’s Billboard interview was primarily to discuss his just-released second solo album, “Fire From the Hip,” which was recorded at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls.

Speaking of the Replacements, this week Spin magazine, a cultural force from 1985 to 2012 that was restarted in 2024, slotted the ’Mats at No. 34 on its list of the 40 greatest musicians of the past 40 years. Somehow the rankings were limited to mostly rock, hip-hop and world music performers. Prince checked in at No. 5 while Nirvana/Kurt Cobain topped the countdown.

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