Danny Boyle will direct a six-part television drama about the Sex Pistols – to be called Pistol – based on the 2018 memoirs of guitarist Steve Jones, Lonely Boy. In a statement, Boyle described the emergence of the Sex Pistols in the mid-1970s as the moment when British society and culture changed forever.
“Imagine invading the world of The Crown and Downton Abbey with your friends and shouting your songs and your fury for everything they stand for,” said Boyle. “It is the detonation point of British street culture, where ordinary young people took the stage and vented their fury and fashion, and everyone had to watch and listen and everyone feared or followed them.”
Frank Cottrell Boyce is writing the series alongside Craig Pearce (Strictly Ballroom). Among its young cast will be Maisie Williams, from Game of Thrones, as punk icon Jordan and Toby Wallace, recently seen in the Australian film Babyteeth, as Steve Jones. John Lydon will be played by emerging star Anson Boon.
Pistol will appear on the American network FX, which has a partnership for the comedy scripted with the BBC. Production is set to begin on March 7.
In an Observer review of Jones’ memoirs, Jude Rogers described the guitarist’s story as “often incredibly funny”, albeit with “many poignant moments” when he addresses sexual abuse, maternal neglect and a period in a detention center .
Lydon has not yet commented on the news. In 2019, he rejected a possible Sex Pistols biopic by Starlight Films. “For the avoidance of doubt, this film would not be authorized, unofficial and would not be endorsed by the Sex Pistols,” he tweeted.
Director Penelope Spheeris was once in conversation with Lydon about a biopic, but said in 2015 that it was unlikely to happen. “I just don’t know if he has the mentality to do that,” she told Pitchfork. “I love him and I think he changed the world, especially the music world, but he was suffering from the same thing as me – you reach a certain age and ask, ‘What is my identity?’ What is Johnny Rotten’s identity? The birth of punk, the Sex Pistols. You want to get it right and I think John is afraid to get it right. “
Boyle’s last television series was Trust (2018), about the kidnapping of Getty Oil’s heir, John Paul Getty III.