FX Orders Sex Pistols Limited Series From Danny Boyle

“Pistol” is focused on iconic guitarist Steve Jones, played by Toby Wallace

sex pistols johnny rotten steve jones
Getty Images

FX has ordered “Pistol,” a six-episode limited series about iconic Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones from Oscar-winner Danny Boyle, the cable channel said Monday.

The show, which is set to begin production March 7, is based on Jones’ 2018 memoir “Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol” and will star Toby Wallace as Jones. Boyle will executive produce and direct “Pistol,” which was created by Craig Pearce and written by Pearce and Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Per FX,  “Anchored by Jones’ memoir, which offers a fascinating new perspective on one of rock’s greatest ever stories, ‘Pistol’ moves from West London’s council estates, to Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s notorious Kings Road SEX shop, to the international controversy that came with the release of Never Mind the Bollocks, which is frequently listed as one of the most influential albums of all time. Their single ‘God Save the Queen’ was banned by the BBC and reached Number 1 on the UK’s NME chart, but appeared at Number 2 on the Official UK Singles chart, leading to accusations that the song was purposely kept off the top spot. For the only time in chart history, the track was listed as a blank, to avoid offence to the monarchy.”

Along with Wallace as Jones, “Pistol” stars Anson Boon (Crawl, 1917, Blackbird) as John Lydon, Louis Partridge (Enola Homes, Medici) as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, Fabien Frankel (The Serpent, NYPD Blue) as Glen Matlock, Dylan Llewellyn (Derry Girls) as Wally Nightingale, Sydney Chandler (Don’t Worry Darling) as Chrissie Hynde, Emma Appleton (The Witcher, Traitors) as Nancy Spungen, and Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as punk icon Jordan.

“Pistol” will be executive produced by Jones, Boyle and Pearce, alongside Gail Lyon, Anita Camarata, Tracey Seaward, Paul Lee, Hope Hartman and production studio wiip. The series is produced by FX Productions.

“It’s great to be back in business with Danny Boyle, an exceptional artist responsible for so many great feature films and TV series,” Nick Grad, FX Entertainment’s president of original programming, said. “Steve Jones was at the center of the storm that shook the rock establishment and we’re thrilled to have Danny and the rest of the creative team tell his story as a member of one of music’s most notorious bands — the Sex Pistols.”

Boyle added: “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. 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.”

Boyle is repped by WME and Sue Rogers of Independent.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.