DANNY BOYLE IS SITTING IN HIS D KITCHEN sounding faintly surprised that his latest project has been made at all. "It's so not the story that everybody wants to be told," he says, "but it is the story that should be told." Pistol, a six-part miniseries, certainly isn't the first drama about the Sex Pistols. There was Alex Cox's 1986 movie Sid and Nancy, as well as The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle - a game attempt by the band's manager Malcolm McLaren to claim the whole thing was a brilliantly orchestrated money-making scheme. But Boyle's is by far the most ambitious.
It is based on Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, Steve Jones's fantastic, occasionally harrowing autobiography, which takes readers from the guitarist's horrendous childhood (he was sexually abused by his stepfather) to that infamous, expletive-filled appearance the band made on ITV's Today show. It then covers the notoriety that followed, including the band's messy collapse during a US tour and the horrific aftermath, which culminated in bassist Sid Vicious dying of a heroin overdose while on bail, charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
The series features a high-profile young cast: Maisie Williams, best known as Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, plays Jordan, the fearsome sales assistant in McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's boutique Sex; while Louis Partridge, star of Netflix's hugely successful Enola Holmes, is Sid Vicious. Anson Boon doesn't look much like Johnny Rotten, but he's got his voice and mannerisms eerily accurate; likewise Thomas Brodie-Sangster as McLaren. Moreover, it's funded - and here's an image for anyone who can remember the furore the Sex Pistols once caused - by Disney.
Denne historien er fra May 27, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra May 27, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.