Punk pioneers the Sex Pistols are getting their own TV show, and it's already been the subject of dispute among the band members regarding rights over the music. Pistol, which focuses on the band's guitarist Steve Jones, will premiere on Disney+ on May 31.
The six-episode limited series is directed and executive produced by Danny Boyle. It was written by Craig Pearce, the frequent Baz Luhrmann collaborator who co-wrote Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby. It's based on Jones' memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol.
Toby Wallace stars as Steve Jones. Rounding out the Sex Pistols lineup are Anson Boon as John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, and Christian Lees as Glen Matlock. Thomas Brodie-Sangster plays famed manager Malcolm McLaren, while the cast is rounded out by Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, Talulah Riley as Vivienne Westwood, Maisie Williams as Jordan, and Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen.
An official synopsis for Pistol is as follows:
Pistol is a six-episode limited series about a rock and roll revolution. The furious, raging storm at the center of this revolution are the Sex Pistols — and at the centre of this series is Sex Pistols' founding member and guitarist, Steve Jones. Jones' hilarious, emotional and at times heart-breaking journey guides us through a kaleidoscopic telling of three of the most epic, chaotic and mucus-spattered years in the history of music. Based on Jones' memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, this is the story of a band of spotty, noisy, working-class kids with "no future," who shook the boring, corrupt establishment to its core, threatened to bring down the government and changed music and culture forever.
Previously, John Lydon tried to block Pistol from using the Sex Pistols' music, but Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook sued Lydon and exercised "majority voting rules" to overrule him. He said in a statement, "I am the lead singer and songwriter, frontman, image, the lot, you name it. I put it there. How is that not relevant? It is dumbfounding to me. It is so destructive to what the band is and so I fear that the whole project might be extremely negative."
The six-episode limited series is directed and executive produced by Danny Boyle. It was written by Craig Pearce, the frequent Baz Luhrmann collaborator who co-wrote Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby. It's based on Jones' memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol.
Toby Wallace stars as Steve Jones. Rounding out the Sex Pistols lineup are Anson Boon as John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, and Christian Lees as Glen Matlock. Thomas Brodie-Sangster plays famed manager Malcolm McLaren, while the cast is rounded out by Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, Talulah Riley as Vivienne Westwood, Maisie Williams as Jordan, and Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen.
An official synopsis for Pistol is as follows:
Pistol is a six-episode limited series about a rock and roll revolution. The furious, raging storm at the center of this revolution are the Sex Pistols — and at the centre of this series is Sex Pistols' founding member and guitarist, Steve Jones. Jones' hilarious, emotional and at times heart-breaking journey guides us through a kaleidoscopic telling of three of the most epic, chaotic and mucus-spattered years in the history of music. Based on Jones' memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, this is the story of a band of spotty, noisy, working-class kids with "no future," who shook the boring, corrupt establishment to its core, threatened to bring down the government and changed music and culture forever.
Previously, John Lydon tried to block Pistol from using the Sex Pistols' music, but Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook sued Lydon and exercised "majority voting rules" to overrule him. He said in a statement, "I am the lead singer and songwriter, frontman, image, the lot, you name it. I put it there. How is that not relevant? It is dumbfounding to me. It is so destructive to what the band is and so I fear that the whole project might be extremely negative."