How Danny Boyle got the Sex Pistols to life.
Written byTimes Magazine
When Trainspotting director Danny Boyle began making a miniseries about the punk icon Sex Pistols, he had one condition: the actors had to play the songs are real.
There will be no lip-sync and mimicry. Instead, every riff and syllable is captured live on stage, messy and varnished in front of an audience, just like the original.
But turning a largely unknown cast and first-time actors into a fit group doesn't happen overnight. So Boyle proposed and was given a three-month probationary period - an almost unheard of time for a TV show.
"It was like high school," said Anson Boone, who plays Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotton.
"In the morning, we all have individual music lessons, so I walk down the hall screaming and drowning out other people's music lessons. Then, after recess, we get together as a band and "go play for a few hours. And in the afternoon, we want to do stage practice with Danny."
"Everything was forged for practice at the time," said Louis Partridge, who plays Sid Vicious. "That's evil." The rehearsal was observed by Carl Hyde and Rick Smith of the dance group Underworld. But even though an unprepared aesthetic defined punk that anyone could play with, the young line-up wasn't easygoing.
"Bass is pretty hardcore for beginners," said Christian Lees, who plays bassist Glenn Matlock. "But I'll cover the blisters with some liquid plaster and keep playing."
"I had to have physical therapy on my jaw because of the pressure that would build upon my face," Boone added.
Boyle's six-part series chronicled the Pistols' short but explosive career, from total obscurity to worldwide fame, and even recreated their famous and swearing television interview with Bill Grandi that shocked the nation.
The show has been hailed as "temporary, raw, and chaotic" by Empire Magazine and "Wild Scream Against the Establishment" by Slashfilm - and the cast's involvement in the music is critical to its authenticity.
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