For those of you that have been living under a rock, the Sex Pistols are the original punk rockers, celebrated for spearheading the punk movement and short, spiky hair. Now Danny Boyle, director of 127 Hours, Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire, has been confirmed to be directing the FX Six-Part limited series, following the life of the bands guitarist, Steve Jones. The series, named Pistol, is based on Jones’ 2018 memoir ‘Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol’.
The all star cast speaks volumes too, with Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams playing Pamela Rooke (aka Jordan) and Toby Wallace portraying Steve Jones. Ansoon Boon will portray the bands vocalist John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) with Louis Partridge playing Sid Vicious.
‘Pistol’ will star Maisie Williams, Toby Wallace and Dylan Llewellynhttps://t.co/27S0okuVuu
— NME (@NME) January 11, 2021
Boyle stated, “It is the detonation point for British street culture… where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion… and everyone had to watch & listen…and everyone feared them or followed them. The Sex Pistols. At its centre was a young charming illiterate kleptomaniac – a hero for the times – Steve Jones, who became in his own words, the 94th greatest guitarist of all time. This is how he got there.”
Jones’ memoir takes you through his upbringing with all the uncensored parts – climbing up a tower in Battersea Power Station and stealing David Bowie’s amps at his ‘Ziggy Stardust’ tour. The stars memoirs include his later life when he went Tee-Total in LA, describing himself as a “a semi-retired sexual deviant who doesn’t really act out so much any more”. Now, the Academy-Award winning director will begin filming these stories from the 7th March 2021, with no dates yet set for premieres.
The series will include the global controversy that occurred with the bands album ‘Never Mind the Bollocks – Here’s the Sex Pistols.’ The album is hailed as the one of the most influential works of all time, where it was ranked number.38 Greatest Album of All Time in 2013 by NME. The single ‘God Save the Queen’ is an anarchists anthem, being banned by the BBC and many other independent radio stations incase of causing offence to the monarchy. Major retailers such as W.H Smiths and Woolworths also banned selling the single, which has been said to spur people to buy the record even more, due to its ‘naughtiness’. Boyle describes this as “the moment that British society and culture changed forever,” leaving us eagerly awaiting the arrival of, what will undoubtedly be, an epic biopic.
