After all the drama and legal action, the first episode of the Sex Pistols TV series Pistol will go to air in the US via Hulu on May 31. The confirmed premiere date for the Danny Boyle directed drama series arrived accompanied by a new trailer which can be viewed below.
https://youtu.be/hUjzCLXkXp0
The six-part Sex Pistols TV series, Pistol is based on guitarist Steve Jones’ autobiography, Lonely Boy, and stars Anson Boon as John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten. The series charts the Pistols’ formation and rise to national infamy in the late 1970s.
The trailer starts off hilariously with a narrator saying, “England’s terribly boring, nothing ever changes,” as scenes of Queen Lizzy and a choir fill the screen. But it’s not long before we transition to the considerably rougher reality the young Sex Pistols inhabit. “We’re invisible. We’re pissed off and no one gives a shit about us, so we don’t give a shit about anyone else, and maybe that should be our image,” says Toby Wallace, who portrays guitarist Steve Jones in the series.
The trailer shows both the restlessness and the recklessness of the band as they feed off a desire to “kick this country awake if it kills us.”
Thomas Brodie Sangster, who plays legendary manager and tastemaker Malcolm McLaren declares the band’s battle cry, “We’re creating a revolution. I don’t want musicians, I want saboteurs”, while Wallace as Jones, seems to predict the future with the phrase, “Actually we’re not into music, we’re into chaos.”
The IRL Johnny Rotten reportedly remains pretty pissed about the series’ existence, owing principally to his lack of being hired as a consultant.
In an interview with The Sunday Times last year, the Pistols frontman slagged off the series in a big way.
“The most disrespectful shit I’ve ever had to endure,” he said. “I mean, they went to the point to hire an actor to play me but what’s the actor working on? Certainly not my character. It can’t go anywhere else [but court].”
“Sorry, you think you can do this, like walk all over me – it isn’t going to happen,” Rotten continued. “Not without a huge, enormous fucking fight. I’m Johnny, you know, and when you interfere with my business you’re going to get the bitter end of my business as a result. It’s a disgrace.”
Unfortunately for Rotten The Guardian revealed he lost the court case, meaning the Pistol series can carry on its merry way and he can carry on being mad.
According to a spokesperson for the Pistol series, Boyle actually reached out to Rotten’s management, but “ultimately direct contact was declined”.
It comes after Rotten recently made headlines after going public with a story about his flea-bitten penis.
Sex Pistols are of course one of the most controversial bands to ever walk the earth. Despite only having one official studio full-length album, 1977’s Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols the band remains a legendary force in both punk and popular culture.
