Julien Temple planning bio of The Kinks
Biographies leave me cold, but I have to admit a report that Julien Temple (The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten) is collaborating with Ray Davies on a film about The Kinks kind of gets my attention.
Though highly influential among musicians and extremely popular in the UK, they never quite cracked the US mainstream in the way The Beatles and The Rolling Stones did. Ray and Dave Davies were the original fighting brothers of rock and roll (pre-dating Oasis’ Gallagher brothers by 25 years) and according to Screen Daily, that’s the angle Temple is taking: “At the heart of it is the extraordinary love-hate relationship between these two brothers: love/hate, sibling rivalry is at the core. I think it’s a very rich social, cultural nexus around The Kinks. Their story is the untold story of all those big bands of the 1960s.”
The trade says the film will be called You’ve Really Got Me and I can’t help wonder if they really mean You Really Got Me, which is of course is the correct name of the band’s first hit and possibly their most famous song. Either way, according to Temple no actors have been hired, but he wants them to be people who can play the Kinks’ music themselves because it “is believable and real while miming is problematic.”
The piece goes on to talk about Temple’s upcoming project about the Brit pub rock band Dr. Feelgood.
Filed under: Development
Tags: Dave Davies, Julien Temple, Mick Avory, Ray Davies, The Kinks
You forgot to tell us that this will be starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio as Ray and Dave Davies.
lol…I forgot Johnny was in a band so he’d probably qualify. Not sure about Leo though.
Pass me my smelling salts!!! My all-time #2 band finally getting some respect? I really hope they don’t screw this up and make it *too much* about the sibling rivalrly aspect. Instead, I hope they highlight Ray’s songwriting period of unparalleled genius (spanning from Face to Face to The Village Green Preservation Society to Arthur . . ., to Lola Versus Powerman). The man is a veritable poet and an outstanding craftsman. OK, I’ll stop gushing now but this made my day!!!
I thought you might be excited about this DP. I’m inclined to think that Temple will get it right. There will be drama for sure, but I’ll bet there’s also a heavy emphasis on the music.
I hope so.
You know it, Craig. Big fan here. I know you’re a Stones guy through and through, but I’m sure you appreciate The Kinks’ contributions.
I can definitely put up with the drama (as long as it’s not heavy-handed), but I think that biopics could be so much better if they focused on the actual craft of the subject. If Campion could do that about a romantic poet, other filmmakers have no excuse.
By the way, I may check out Precious this weekend and now I’m kind of dreading it because it seems that all of my peeps were pretty disappointed with it. I also wonder if my dislike of Lee Daniels will blur my perception of the film. I guess we’ll see :)
“If Campion could do that about a romantic poet, other filmmakers have no excuse. ” Yes! something that gets at the artistic process and leaves the sex and drugs alone.
Yes, I’m a Stones guy but I adore the Kinks. For me the Stones are all about attitude and personality and style. Ray Davies is just one of your genius songwriters and that’s all there is to it. Lennon & McCartney obviously are nothing to sneeze at, but I think Davies belongs in a class by himself.
I’m very curious to hear what you think of Precious. You should definitely see it since it’s going to be a part of the conversation for at least a couple more months, and longer assuming it gets nominated. As little as I cared for it, I hope it grabs you. It’s impossible not to sympathize with Precious, but in the end that wasn’t enough for me.
I’ll definitely share my thoughts on Precious. I already feel left behind, so I need to catch up with you guys.
And agreed, Lennon-McCartney are incomprable (The Beatles are my #1 band, after all), but what Davies was doing is incredibly unique and hard to categorize. I always marvel at how sonically different his output is, how incredibly thoughtful his lyrics are, the pathos of his storytelling. Yeah, I think “storyteller” fits him more than “songwriter.” His songs are carefully structured vignettes that reflect so many aspects of life — the dark, the comical, the tragic, the whimsical. I’m the farthest thing from British, but I can connect with all the fundamental ideas in his music. He’s a gift to this world.
I saw him live in NYC last year, by the way. He’s a trooper (and sang my favorite song of his, “Shangri-la”, I almost exploded with joy). And he posed on stage for me when he saw me with my nerdy camera. I should send you the photo sometime. It was one of the highlights of my life :)
I have to see that photo!
Yes, storyteller is an excellent word. Plus, he did concept albums that were real albums and not just collections of songs.
You absolutely need to get cracking with the movie-age. I miss having your energy around!
Aw, and I miss you guys more than you’ll know or even believe. I do keep up as much as possible, but simply haven’t had time to upkeep the blog as of late. I’m hoping this drought will end soon!
I’ll email you the photo asap!
You’re the best and if anyone says otherwise…well I’ll just have to sit quietly in the corner drinking Manhattans and murmuring withering George Sanders style bon mots at them ’cause I’m not a fan of violence directed at my person.
I’d kill to see this if it’s done RIGHT. But who the hell knows if that will happen?
Julien Temple directed ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS in the mid 80s. It’s absolutely…uh, dreadful. Title song is a classic, however.
It will definitely depend on the director, the actors and the music that they select. I’ve seen more musical biopics botched than not. So I’m not inordinately hopeful.
But you never kmow…
Craig, I’m a big KINKS fan. Certainly in the same league as you and the ever delightful Ms. Porker. But north of the 49th, we do adore our Brits. We’re still a Commonwealth country. Technically.
So maybe if they pull out all of the stops it might just be magnificent. Have to wait and see.
And Dorothy…
You’ve been greatly missed at CP. Just in case you were wondering…
Yes Miranda, I also thought of you when I posted this. Even if you weren’t required to like them as a Canadian citizen, I know your sense of good taste would’ve pointed you in their direction.
I’m taking the optimistic route. I can’t think about it any other ways. If Temple burns me, well it’ll be a crashing disappointment, but Im’ going to give him every benefit of a doubt. Hopefully tied to a true story he’ll be a little less fanciful than he was with Absolute Beginners, a film that still has its fans.
The Kinks = awesome. I remember after watching Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, oddly enough, remarking that someone really needed to do a good treatment of Ray Davies. I didn’t know it would end up being the same director.
The Joe Strummer doc is I believe the only one of his I’ve seen. I had some storytelling/editing complaints about it, but felt overall it was pretty compelling. I would have liked a tighter narrative, though. That and I remember that final campfire scene there were all these people who would talk about their memories and I didn’t know who they were, no attribution. I know it’s a freestyle campfire thing, but it took me out of it trying to figure out if these were famous musicians or personal friends or both or what.
I’d have killed to have been at that concert with you, Dorothy! That’s so great that he posed for you. Swoon.
Temple’s passions I think are at least in the right place. Whether he has the skill and finesse to pull off a drama or not, remains to be seen.