FX is saving history. The network has ordered Pistol, a memoir miniseries following Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, and Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting) has joined the project to direct.
The six-part series, based on Jones’s 2018 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, was created by Moulin Rouge writer Craig Pearce. Babyteeth’s Toby Wallce has signed on to play Jones, with Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams as Jordan (aka Pamela Rooke), a popular punk artist. Other cast includes Anson Boon as John Lydon, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, Fabien Frankel as Glen Matlock, Dylan Llewellyn as Wally Nightingale, Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, and Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen.
“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,” Boyle said in a statement. “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…and everyone had to watch & listen…and everyone feared them or followed them. The Sex Pistols. At its center 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.”
Mostly following the events detailed in Jones’s memoir, the series will feature the international controversy surrounding their album Never Mind the Bollocks, a trip to the notorious Kings Road SEX shop, and more. The story will journey around West London, detailing Jones’s perspective on the rock history of the Sex Pistols.
Boyle, Jones, and Pearce will executive produce Pistol, which is set to begin production at FX on March 7.
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