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And Finally Artist News Media
Danny Boyle to direct Sex Pistols TV series
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 12 January 2021
Royalty, scandal and changes in fashion. All things I imagine I’d see if I could be bothered to watch ‘The Crown’. But also things that will probably be covered – perhaps slightly differently – in a new TV series dramatising the life of Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. Six part series ‘Pistol’ will be based on Jones’ memoir – ‘Lonely Boy: Tales Of A Sex Pistol’ – and is set to be directed by Danny Boyle for FX.
Did that reference to ‘The Crown’ seem a bit out of place? Or do we accept now that all TV biopics have to be compared in some way to the Netflix hit? Hey, at least I didn’t try to crowbar in a mention of ‘Downtown Abbey’. I mean, what kind of fool would do that?
“Imagine breaking into the world of ‘The Crown’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent”, says Boyle of his new biopic project. “This is the moment that British society and culture changed forever”.
“It is the detonation point for British street culture, where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion”, he goes on. “Everyone had to watch and 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”.
President Of Original Programming at FX Entertainment, Nick Grad, adds of the project: “Steve Jones was at the centre of the storm that shook the rock establishment and we’re THRILLED to have Danny and the rest of the creative team tell his story as a member of one of music’s most notorious bands – the Sex Pistols”.
Meanwhile, Paul Lee, CEO of production company WIIP, says: “The Sex Pistols changed music forever and Danny Boyle is the perfect director to tell Steve Jones’ story fuelled by raw creativity and destruction. We’re THRILLED to be making this with our friends at FX”.
The show will star Toby Wallace as Steve Jones, Anson Boon as John Lydon, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious and Jacob Slater as Paul Cook. ‘Game Of Thrones’ star Maisie Williams is set to play punk icon Jordan. No date has yet been announced for when ‘Pistol’ will hit our screens, but production is due to begin on 7 Mar.
