Remember When Mike Myers Was Gonna Play Keith Moon? No? Well, For A Long Ass Time That Was A Thing

  

Back in 2002 (yes, this is another “20 years ago” post), it was announced that former SNL cast member, and WAYNE’S WORLD/AUSTIN POWERS superstar, Mike Myers, might step into the shoes of the legendary drummer for the Who, Keith Moon, for a biopic entitled SEE ME FEEL ME: KEITH MOON NAKED FOR YOUR PLEASURE.

From the pages of Entertainment Weekly (Gary Susman, July 9, 2002):

“Having played Austin Powers in three movies, including this month’s upcoming ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember,’ Mike Myers may be ready to play another relic of swinging ‘60s London: Keith Moon, the founding drummer for the Who. ‘I have talked to Roger Daltrey about the possibility of a film,’ Myers tells the Associated Press. ‘I think Keith Moon was a fascinating character.’ For his part, lead singer Daltrey has long wanted to make a film about his late colleague, who was as famous for smashing hotel rooms as for smashing his drum kit at the end of Who concerts. ‘Mike is a genius. I can really see him as Keith. He’s amazing when you meet him, so clever,’ Daltrey tells AP.”

 

At the time, Myers was 39, six years older than Moon was when he died from a massive overdose in 1978. The age difference didn’t raise many eyebrows as it seemed an inspired choice that had a good chance of working, but apparently the project got stuck in development hell as the news faded, and a few years passed. 

 

In 2005, plans for the biopic, with Myers attached, and Daltrey as producer, resurfaced. But another name was being batted around in consideration for the role – Jason Schwarztman, best known for his work with Wes Anderson, and as an drummer (Phantom Planet, Coconut Records). 

It’s true Schwartzman has the look, but could he handle the accent duties as well as Myers? Probably not, producer Daltrey probably thought, as Myers continued being the #1 choice for the iconic part.

But nothing happened with the proposed production, and more years passed. By the time it reared it’s mop-haired head again in 2014, Myers’ age appropriateness for the part couldn’t so easily be ignored. Co-producer Nigel Sinclair justified the casting to Hollywood.com; “Mike looks very young and Keith, of course, looked much older than he was.”

And, yet again, another younger actor was cited as being interested in portraying Moon - Jeremy Piven. I’m glad this idea has been long abandoned, because, well, look at him – that would be likely be a miscasting mess.

Talk of Myers as Moon would come up here and there over the years since, but that’s all it was – talk. As late as last year, there were reports that Myers was still in the running, but he’s now 59 years old, and that ship should’ve sailed a long time ago. The film, which has an IMDb page with little to no information about the production, apparently still seems to be in the works, but no name has been attached for the looney lead.

Now titled THE REAL ME, the film aims to join in the musical biopic trend boosted by such successes as BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY and ROCKETMAN. Earlier this year, Manori Ravindran reported in Varity that the movie has “Moon’s former band members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend on board as executive producers. The pic is directed by Paul Whittington (The Crown, White House Farm) with a script from prolific British screenwriter Jeff Pope, who was Oscar-nominated for PHILOMENA.”

So for two decades, the premise of Myers as Moon has come and gone over and over, but it looks like it’s finally been put to bed. I was reminded of all this casting activity he other night when I was watching Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s 2014 vampire mockumentary, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, and noted that actor Jonathan Brough had an uncanny resemblance to Moon in the very funny feature. His rough, rowdy demeanor is Moon-esque as well, so I think he’d be a great choice for THE REAL ME.

On the subject of age, Brugh’s Wikipedia page has no info on his birthday so it’s unknown old he is, which may be because he really is a vampire and it’s a cover-up. Whatever the case, I bet he could crush it as Moon. Otherwise, a hungry unknown who’s got the chops would be a great idea. It could be a star-making tour de force in the right hands.

 

Still, Myers’ Moon is an epic could-have-been that’s fun to speculate about. Perhaps, like he was used as a record executive in BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, he could cameo in a minor yet juicy sideline part as a Moon overseer or some such. Yeah, that would be groovy, baby. And after that Austin Powers callback, I’ll show myself the door.

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The Who’s Original Managers Get Their Rock Doc Due

  

Opening today exclusively in the Triangle area at the Raleigh Grande:

LAMBERT & STAMP

(Dir. James D. Cooper, 2014)

This fascinating documentary focusing on the original managers of The Who arrives in a timely fashion to Raleigh as the iconic British rock band just played a show in town at the PNC Center earlier this week. 

I was among the thousands at the sports arena to see the remaining founding members, singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend, joined by a tight backing band including Ringo’s son Zak Starkey on drums, bash out over 20 of their classics for their “The Who Hits 50!” tour. The Who was an obsession of my youth so songs like “I Can’t Explain,” “Baba O’Riley,” and “I Can See For Miles” (among many, many others) are in my blood. Despite their advancing age and some flubs here and there, The Two, as many fans call them, really brought it.

Over the years there’s been countless docs, books, interviews, and profiles in major music magazines that have told and retold the history of The Who, but a crucial part of their back story, the intracacies of their origin story if you will, usually gets glossed over.

And that’s the story of how Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, two best friend aspiring filmmakers who, despite no management experience, managed, mentored, and helped make famous four blokes who, when they discovered them, went by the name The High Numbers.

Lambert, the son of acclaimed classical composer Constant Lambert, died in 1981, but the 70-year old, still dapper Stamp sat down for extensive interviews for first-time documentarian James D. Cooper, relaying anecdotes about the duo’s schemes and dreams that involved making a movie about a pop band that would establish them as first class filmmakers.

After months of searching through candidates they thought were “too clean,” Lambert and Stamp came across the High Numbers at a small London club in the summer of 1964, and were immediately taken by them. Then Lambert and Stamp’s plan to make a film was put on the back burner as they became the band’s managers and went about reshaping their image. This included changing their name to The Who, billed on posters with the tagline: “Maximum R & B.”

Flashy black and white footage, some of the first ever shot of The Who, capture the Mod movement in full swing, while fleeting bits of live shows display how the band’s abrasive energy connected with their small but growing audience. However, one not well versed in the British rock legends, could be forgiven for watching much of this and thinking that the Who’s entire early act consisted of making loud feedbacky noise then smashing their instruments.

Daltrey and Townshend are on hand to give insights from the band’s side, particularly Pete, always a great interview subject, who passionately speaks about long-gone Who members, bassist John Entwistle (“he was a fuckin’ genius!”) and drummer Keith Moon (“he wasn’t a drummer…he did something else”), and laments about overhearing that the two were considering leaving The Who to form Led Zeppelin with Jimmy Page (“I felt like a real outsider”).

One of the film’s musical highlights is footage of the young, lanky, slightly nervous Townshend playing a solo acoustic version of a new song, “Glittering Girl,” which would go on to be a beloved outtake from the 1967 album “The Who Sell Out,” in person for the adoring managers. “I do feel like they treated me differently,” Townshend recalls now about their relationship.

After The Who started hitting it big, Lambert and Stamp went on to manage Jimi Hendrix, Thunderclap Newman, Arthur Brown, and Golden Earring. But a falling out, seemingly fueled by booze and drugs, with Townshend over the sessions for “Who’s Next” in 1971 led to the band firing the pair in ‘75. Stamp seems still a bit upset about this, and that he didn’t get to direct TOMMY, the film version of The Who’s 1969 rock opera, when making a movie featuring the band was the whole idea in the first place.

Who biographer Richard Barnes, Daltrey’s second wife Heather, original Mod Irish Jack (considered to be the inspiration for The Who’s “Quadrophenia”), and actor Terence Stamp, Chris’ older brother, are also on hand to flesh out the film with sometimes witty, sometimes sad anecdotes about the bombastic band and their two eccentric managers.

Folks interested in the music scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the mechanics of making a band in that era should enjoy LAMBERT & STAMP, but really it’s a doc that the millions of people that cheer and pump their fists to the band’s 50th Anniversary tour should really seek out. Both casual and hardcore fans alike owe it to themselves to learn about who really made The Who happen.

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It Was 40 Years Ago Today: Re-watching Woodstock

“It’s really amazing. It looks like some kind of Biblical, epochal unbelievable scene!” - Jerry Garcia (The Grateful Dead) 

“A bunch of stupid slobs in the mud.” 
- Grace Slick (The Jefferson Airplane)

     Yeah, Woodstock divides folks - even folks supposedly on the same side.

Whatever your feelings on the famous Woodstock Festival, currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, it’s impossible to deny its lasting impact and cultural importance. 

For a number of reasons (one of which being the upcoming movie TAKING WOODSTOCK) I felt like re-watching the movie that was made of the event that fateful weekend. I've seen it before a number of times -usually on anniversaries it seems.

I remember a party in '99 with it on in the background via VH1 and I remember seeing it constantly on the monitor of the video store I was working at in '89. 

I borrowed my brother's DVD of it from the late 90's for my recent re-viewing. 

As Martin Scorsese, who was assistant editor on the project, said the film "has shape-shifted quite a bit over the years," so I felt I was fine with the 1994 "Director's Cut" and didn't need to shell out for the new lavish 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition for an anniversary re-viewing.

This was an old school DVD - it didn't even have a proper menu and the video quality was pretty VHS, but that's apt because that's how I saw it originally, so screw digital remasterings! 

For now anyway. The film makers had some fun with the standard ratings disclaimer at the beginning of the film - the "R" starts to ignite at the sound of Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" guitar solo.

       
It extends to the word "Restricted" which quickly goes up in flames and the implication is clear - this movie is fiery cataclysmic stuff, watch out. That notion though disappears rapidly once you see laid back shots of farm fields and hippie folk arriving to take them over. Workers building the stage and setting up sound equipment while people arrive - some in colorfully painted vehicles, some on foot climbing through holes in the fence. 

This all goes on a bit too long as it's a while before we see an actual live performer. 

We hear studio versions of Crosby, Stills & Nash and Canned Heat tunes with a split screen image showing simultaneously Michael Lang talking to a reporter from ABC News while the second half of the screen shows the unwashed masses making their way through paths of parked cars and campers.

   
24 minutes into it, Richie Havens is the first performer. He does his hard acoustic guitar strumming thing on a few songs, stopping in between to tell the audience that the next day the whole world will read about how groovy they were. 

Out of sight, man! From there we see Wavy Gravy (still going by the name Hugh Romney) mulling about hamming it up and then hear his announcement that the acid circulating is not poison - it’s just been poorly manufactured.

This is where I get weary of reporting on everything in this already well reported movie and will just hit the highlights (or lowlights) as I saw them:

The Who’s bombastically beautiful “See Me, Feel Me” and “Summertime Blues” performance shakes things up after Joan Baez's stoic stance of an act.

Then the audience is blown away by Joe Cocker’s ferocious “With A Little Help From My Friends” Beatles cover (wonderfully parodied by John Belushi on SNL Oct. 25th, 1975).

Jeez, there's way too much drum circle footage combined with people running and sliding in the mud after the infamous downpour that the crowds tried to stop with a chant: “No rain -no rain!” Doubt this bit was what won the film a “Best Documentary” Oscar.

The most treacly bit: John Sebastian solo acoustic singing his song “Younger Generation” concluding by saying “That kid’s gonna be far out.”

Jimi Hendrix's set is definitely the highlight of the entire event - despite that he was the last performer and it was early Monday morning and most of the massive crowd had left.

Hendrix's mind bending take on "The Star Spangled Banner" is the bit that alone singed the "R" rating above. The set is available separately and for good reason.

When all is said and done in my book (or on my blog) there's just this music on record that lasts from this colassally overwrought event: The Who, Sly and The Family Stone, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. The rest is pretty iffy. For example: none of the Grateful Dead's set has ever been released because it sucked - as band members have repeatedly alleged. And who invited Sha Na Na?

As a cultural historical document WOODSTOCK is essential, however as a fun rock concert movie it is bogged down with an unnecessary hyper significance - I found myself siding with Grace Slick's quote above most of the time watching it. 

It's an event ripe for major cherry picking - in this era of ripping a decent mix could be made of this but I may suggest alternatives like FESTIVAL EXPRESS and WATTSTAX for more consistent goodies. Just sayin'.

More later...

Film Babble Blog's 10 Definitive Rockumentaries

Peter Bogdonavich's new four hour Tom Petty documentary RUNNING DOWN A DREAM inspired me to make a list of 10 essential and definitive rockumentaries. So here goes:

1. A tie - DON’T LOOK BACK (Dir. D.A. Pennebaker, 1967) / NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 2005)

Despite the fact that I hate ties this shouldn't surprise anyone, I mean have you met me? D.A. Pennebaker's document of Bob's 1965 British tour coupled with Marty's wider scoped portrait of Dylan's rise to fame are equally essential so I could not separate them. 

The Bob shown in these docs, with the wild hair, sunglasses and mod clothing is the same Bob that Cate Blanchett portrayed in I'M NOT THERE - the one most caged in his persona and held to the highest levels of scrutiny. Incredible concert footage flows through both films and hits its pinnacle in May 1966 when Bob faces a hostile crowd and a historic heckler - "Judas!" is shouted from the darkness one night in Manchester. "I don't believe you - you're a liar!" 

Dylan sneers before launching into a mindblowingly rawking "Like A Rolling Stone". Scorsese and Pennebaker both capture lightning in a bottle and leave us with glorious glimpses of the greatest songwriter ever in his prime serenading the world even when most of the world wasn't quite ready for his weary tune.

2. I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART
(Dir. Sam Jones, 2002)

Not a career overview but a capsule of one particular plagued period when a great band - Wilco - made an incredible record (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) and it was rejected by their record company. Chicago critic, and co-host of the great NPR show Sound Opinions Greg Kot puts it best: "It's not a VH1 "Behind The Music" story. It's a not a drugs-groupies-celebrity kind of story at all. This band's story is the music. 20 years from now their probably going to get more of their due than now." 

Well let's get them their due right now because this a compelling black and white film full of great music both in the studio and on stage. Key scene: leader Jeff Tweedy and guitarist Jay Bennett have a tense awkward argument over a crucial edit while mixing the album that shows how far they have drifted apart as collaborators. Indeed Bennett was asked to leave the band while the film was being made. The band grows stronger and gets a label and has a hit album which gives this rockumentary a happy ending and a nice second placing on this list. 

3. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
(Dir. Jeff Stein, 1979)

Sure there's that new more extensive, and correctly chronological AMAZING JOURNEY: THE STORY OF THE WHO but this hodgepodge of Who with its odds 'n ends, warts 'n all, kitchen sink approach is much more exciting. In the first five minutes explosives go off in Keith Moon's drumkit from a performance on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Show then we zigzag around to such '60s shows as Shindig and Beatlcub, seminal gigs like WOODSTOCK and the Monterey International Pop Festival and then conclude with specially shot for the film footage from Shepperton Film Studios mere months before Moon's death in '78. 

We don't get narration or anything in the way of historical context - none of the bits are titled and nobody is identified and it is all out of order - but the collage effect satisfies and everything gels together like one of best movie mix-tapes ever.

Key scene: The Who blow the Stones off the stage on their own TV special (The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus) with a ferocious version of "A Quick One, While He's Away."

4. GIMME SHELTER 

(Dirs. Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin, 1970)

The '60s dream died here, or so the tale goes - just ask Don McLean. That fatal night at Altamont Speedway where Hells Angels acted as security for a free Rolling Stones gig made what could have been just an assembly line concert film (see LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER for that) into a piece of true crime documentation that could play on MSNBC as well as VH1 Classic. The Stones had shed psychedelia and were getting back to their roots so in 1969, touring with Ike and Tina Turner and we get a good sampling of a Madison Square Garden concert (also featured on the album "Get Your Ya-Yas Out") and a stirring performance of "Wild Horses" at Muscle Shoals Studio in Alabama before proceeding to the scene of the crime in California. 

We see Mick Jagger and Keith Richards watching the Altamont footage in the editing room and they freeze the image of a knife in the hand held above the fighting crowd and it is one of the most chilling images in cinema that has ever been seen. I don't know if Satan was laughing with delight like McLean sings in "American Pie" but he was sure smirking. 

5. LET IT BE 
(Dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1970)

Actually the '60s dream died here too. 

The break-up of the Beatles with their final public performance on a rooftop in London is a tough sad watch but one that's vital in understanding exactly how the mighty can fall. Unfortunately because as producer and former Beatles assistant Neil Aspinall said recently "When we got halfway through restoring it, we looked at the outtakes and realized: this stuff is still controversial. 

It raised a lot of old issues" - the film may not see the light of a DVD player anytime soon. That's too bad - even though it's not the Beatles at their best it's them at their most human and as uncomfortable as George Harrison's studio squabble with Paul McCartney is (George: "'ll play, you know, whatever you want me to play. Or I won't play at all if you don't want me to play, you know. Whatever it is that'll please you, I'll do it.") we still somehow feel the love in what they were trying to make. And in the end isn't that what they were trying to tell us all along? 

6. DiG! (Ondi Timoner, 2004) 

Though most haven't heard of either of the bands studied here - The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre this tale of the sometimes friendly rivalry will make people listen up. Billed as "a real-life Spinal Tap" DiG! follows these bands with their retro rock through a few years of touring, arguing, getting wasted, busted, and getting up to do it all again. Despite the fact that DW frontman Courtney Taylor narrates, BJM member Anton Newcombe steals the show over and over with his asshole antics and crazy talk like "I'm not for sale. I'm fucking Love, do you understand what I'm saying? Like, the Beatles were for sale. I give it away." Maybe the funniest rockumentary on this list. 

7. TIME WILL TELL 
(Dir. Declan Lowney, 1992)

Bob Marley's story is pretty glossed over in this doc but that is okay because it is so full of great footage with many full songs represented. Interview footage doesn't really provide insights - except that Marley was always stoned - but footage from the One Love Peace Concert and various '70s TV shows (particuraly the footage from the Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC 1973 pictured left) is worth many repeat viewings. 

8. MADONNA: TRUTH OR DARE
(Dir. Alek Kekishian, 1991) 

I'm sure there are those who will scoff but I added this not just because I realized that this list was too much of a sausage party but because it's seriously a notable rockumentary. There sadly aren't many docs about female artists so this will have to some representin.'

This follows Madonna on her controversial Blond Ambition tour and has the backstage bits in DON'T LOOK BACK-esque hand-held black and white while the concert sequences are in color. We do actually get some amusing insights like when Warren Beatty, who briefly dated Madonna during the filming of DICK TRACY, says of her when she's having a dental appointment filmed: "she doesn't want to live off-camera, much less talk. There's nothing to say off-camera. Why would you say something if it's off-camera? What point is there existing? " None I can think of. 

9. THE LAST WALTZ
(Dir. Martin Scorsese, 1978) 

Sure Marty and The Band (they were Bob's band in 1965-66 under the name The Hawks) were both represented at the #1 spot on this list but this film deserves to place on its own. 

It's a doc wrapped around a seminal concert film - the farewell performance of arguably the greatest Canadian band ever who play an incredible set helped out by their friends - including ace work by Eric Clapton,Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Hawkins, Ringo Starr, Neil Diamond (!), and their old bandleader Bob Dylan. 

The interview segments with Scorsese sitting casually around for conversations with Band members Robbie Robertson and Co. were parodied by Rob Reiner as director Marty DiBergi in THIS IS SPINAL TAP and they set a precedent for rockumentary etiquette. But for my money, the sequence in which Neil Young sings "Helpless" with The Band and accompanied by the beautiful backup singing of Joni Mitchell in the wings is one of the most infectious pieces of musical celluloid ever presented. 

That Marty had to visually edit a nugget of cocaine hanging off Young's nose by rotoscoping in post production only adds to the affecting edge. 

10. STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN
(Dir. Paul Justman, 2002) 

This film provides a great service - it shines a light on the largely unknown supporting players on some of the greatest music of the 20th century. The Funk Brothers provided the backing for literally hundreds of hits that defined "the Detroit sound" - the memorable melodies behind Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Supremes, and many others. 

We get interviews with Bandleader Joe Henry and various other surviving Funk Brother members and we see new live performances where they play with such soul notables as Me'shell Ndegeocello, Chaka Kahn, and Bootsy Collins. An incredibly entertaining and emotional experience with a band that should be grandly celebrated for, as narrating actor Andre Braugher tells us, "having played on more number-one records than The Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined."

Postnotes: I tried to focus on wide-ranging documentaries not straight concert films hence the ommision of the Jonathan Demme's amazing STOP MAKING SENSE (which would place high on a list of straight concert films) and other worthy films of that caliber. 

Some other honorable mentions: THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON (reviewed on Film Babble Blog on Oct. 11th, 2006) GIGANTIC (A TALE OF TWO JOHNS) - A great doc about They Might Be Giants, a band who many left behind in college but is still part of our Daily Show lives. THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY - If you ever have a day to kill you could do much worse than watching this 674 min. production. MONTEREY POP METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER - This hilarious doc about a once mighty metal and going into therapy is the real-life Spinal Tap IMHO. 

THE FIFTH AND THE FURY- Julien Temple and the Sex Pistols - need I say more? THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION This and its 2 sequels which cover the history of decadent underworld of punk and metal are as essential as rockumentaries can get. Whew! Okay, that's enough rockumentaries for now. If you think I've left out your favorite - that's what the comments below is for.

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