Jack O'Connell (Skins) is in advanced stages of negotiations to play Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder in new biopic Twisting My Melon based on Ryder's autobiography of the same title.

The independent AGC Studios will fully finance and co-produce Twisting My Melon their CEO Stuart Ford announced on Friday 6 September 2019 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Jack O’Connell to star as @Happy_Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder (@officialswr) in musical biopic for AGC Studios (exclusive) #TIFF19 https://t.co/2AJT8pJFAD pic.twitter.com/8r7Ns9imWl

— Screen International (@Screendaily) September 6, 2019

Jason Isaacs (The OA, Hotel Mumbai) is being lined up to play Derek "Horseman" Ryder with Holliday Grainger (Patrick Melrose) as Ryder's girlfriend and Maxine Peake as his mother.

Matt Greenhalgh (the writer of Control) co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Knott and William Ash and will direct and produce the film.

The film is scheduled to go into production in January 2020.

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Synopsis

"Brother. Son. Poet. Film Star. Rock 'n' Roll Legend. Since childhood, all Shaun Ryder ever wanted to do was play in a rock band like his father, a local working-class guitar hero dubbed the "Horseman". Soon his drive and one-of-a-kind songwriting skills catapulted him to front man of Happy Mondays, the iconic 90s British rock band that would come to define a new cultural era. But success challenged Shaun and his relationship with his father in a riotous cautionary rock fable, set against a musical and cultural revolution whose impact can still be felt today."

Labels: film, Happy_Mondays, Shaun_Ryder, Toronto_Film_Festival

"THE MAD FUCKERS"

BY THE BAILEY BROTHERS

TRAINSPOTIN WITH CARS!

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Cover sheet for draft script of FACT 181 The Mad Fuckers, the abandoned Factory Records film project by the Bailey Brothers (Keith Jobling and Phil Shotton) known for their extensive body of work with Happy Mondays.

See also: Mad for it

Labels: back_in_the_cellar, Bailey_Brothers, film, Happy_Mondays, undone

FAC 181 The Mad F*ckers was a "youth exploitation" movie, with a budget of $2,500,000. Production started July 1987 and was aborted in 1992. This would appear to be a test or draft for some aspect of a promotional campaign which would have surfaced before the eventual campaign.

The Bailey Brothers were Keith Jobling and Phil Shotton who also worked extensively with Happy Mondays.

Labels: back_in_the_cellar, Bailey_Brothers, film, undone

As you will know from Back in the Cellar (Part 1), since February 2016 involving repatriating a large collection of videotapes that used to belong to Tony Wilson that were stored in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

I made some good initial progress returning tapes to various people but then run out of steam slightly. At this point there was still a large number of tapes, film reels and other audiovisual material inside my storage unit. Most of was clearly labelled and I knew who it should go to. I just hadn’t managed to make contact with anybody at that stage or I had but a delivery or pick-up was yet to be arranged.

However, there was also a pile where I was completely in the dark as to who to they belonged to - either through the description being vague or missing or just cryptic. In this category there was six film canisters labelled GREIF. I like a bit of a mystery so I left the canisters where they were and the project went on hiatus (again).



Time passed and then we cut forward to February/March 2017 when I restarted work on my other website factoryrecords.org. I was editing the page for Round and Round by New Order and I noticed that the video for that single had been directed by a Paula Greif.

It suddenly clicked that it must be the film reels for the video that were in storage. My hunch was correct. When I opened one of the canisters (I know - schoolboy error - should have done this first time round!) it contained shooting notes that confirmed the provenance.

At this point, I must digress slightly, and talk about the track itself. The video was done in black and white, featured a series of young female models looking at the camera but not really interacting. They sometimes laugh (whilst trying not to) and occasionally strike different poses. The song continues in the background and there are occasional short blips of graphic inserts. It caused a minor stir at the time as I recall due to its unusual nature.



Round and Round itself is a real stormer and is very much a highlight of the Technique album. Tony Wilson was very confident in it as a single - so much so that he made a bet with Rob Gretton that, if it didn't get into the Top Five of the UK Chart, he would resign as Chairman of Factory Records. It peaked at number 21. It is understood that AHW may have stood down notionally for a day or two but that it was seen as being more of a gentleman’s wager than a serious bet. FAC 253 Chairman Resigns was assigned in honour of the momentous occasion.



Anyway, back to the Greif reels...

The shooting notes state the date and other technical details relating to the shoot including the name of the model or models. This set includes Veronica (Webb), Kathie, Cynthia (Bailey), Patty (Sylvia), Marieke, Pam and Kim.



According to Wikipedia there is a second cut of the video that only features Patty [update: see Vimeo].

I understand that there are more reels numbered 10-17 that complete the set and that these are already in the safe hands of New Order. And that is where reels 1-9 are off too very shortly thanks to the always helpful Andy Robinson in their management team.

Labels: back_in_the_cellar, film, New_Order, Paula_Greif, video

B-Movie - Lust & Sound in West-Berlin (1979-1989) - Official Trailer from scenes from on Vimeo.

The documentary film 'B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin' featuring Mark Reeder who also made the soundtrack for is finished and is being shown five time at the Berlinale film festival.

Komakino by Joy Division is included on the film soundtrack. Reeder also made a 5.1 surround mix of it as well as for all the other songs in the film, including Neubauten, Malaria!, Die Unbekanten and Anne Clark.

Mark says "as we only had the original stereo tracks to go on, it took us ages to do, having to filter, slice and then reconstruct everything back together to sound like the original, but in 5.1."

Labels: Berlin, documentary, film, film_festival, Joy_Division, Mark_Reeder

The Liverpool Radical Documentary Film Festival presents an evening dedicated to ground-breaking record producer and sound explorer Martin Hannett - 'The Man The Music The Machines' on Sunday 22 June 2014 at 7.30pm at Leaf, Bold Street, Liverpool.

The evening includes a screening of 'He wasn't just the 5th member of Joy Division', a film about Martin Hannett, an exhibition of Martin Hannett studio equipment and instruments and a Q&A session with film-maker Chris Hewitt.

Tickets are £5 on the door. After costs are covered, all money goes to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.

Meanwhile, read the Flipside Review of the Martin Hannett DVD.

Labels: events, film, film_festival, Joy_Division, Martin_Hannett

We have been privy to a sneak preview of the previously-announced Martin Hannett featuring contributions from Tony Wilson, Vini Reilly, Bruce Mitchell, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, Tosh Ryan, Steve Hopkins (Invisible Girls), Mark Radcliffe, Dave Formula, Reni and Andy Couzens (Stone Roses) plus many others.

This is no flash expensive BBC documentary, it's a gritty warts 'n' all tale of experimentation, laid bare with the minimum of trickery and a host of wide-eyed observers, interviewed from the '90s onwards - it's rather like witnessing a chat down the pub in some cases (this is no bad thing). There is a soundtrack of sorts, mainly confined to studio tape offcuts and a few videos of Hannett rubbing Wilson up the wrong way or, rather upsettingly, being wheeled around in a shopping trolley for a music video like an overfed turkey. Death was slowly coming by the time that infamous New FADS video hit the channels.

When all is said and done, Martin Hannett really wasn't just the fifth member of Joy Division, or the fourth in The Names or the third in Durutti Column - he was a pioneer in the mould of Joe Meek and Phil Spector, a one-off, a maverick and the like of whom we're unlikely to see, or hear, again. So, until someone at the Beeb gets off their arse and makes a high-end film about the man called Zero, this no-frills DVD will suffice.

Read the full 4* review by Cerysmatic's Paul Pledger via his Flipside Reviews.

Martin Hannett: He Wasn't Just The Fifth Member of Joy Division launches on 10 April from 7pm at Gorilla in Manchester.

For more details on pre-ordering please email ozitrecords@which.net.

Labels: Bruce_Mitchell, documentary, film, Joy_Division, Martin_Hannett, Peter_Hook, review, The_Durutti_Column, Tony_Wilson

... or the third member of The Durutti Column.

Martin Hannett was Factory Records' genius in-house producer, musician and sonic experimenter. A new 4-hour reportage-style documentary filmed over many years and to be released next year will explore his life in interviews with an extensive cast including Tony Wilson, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Bruce Mitchell, CP Lee, Tosh Ryan, Lindsay Reade, George Borowski, Kevin Hewick, Mick Middles, Victor Brox, Bob Dickinson, Julia Adamson, Reni, Andy Spearpoint (New FADS), Wendy Hannett, Vini Reilly, Tina Simmons, Bono (audio only) and Mark Radcliffe.

The project was conceived by Anthony Ryan Carter and initiated in the 90s with interviews carried out by Jon Ronson and Tosh Ryan. It was then shelved until being resurrected by Chris Hewitt and Tom Hewitt with new interviews carried out from 2009 to 2013 and is set for release on dvd in the spring.

Labels: documentary, film, Martin_Hannett

Screenfields 2010 kicks off in Spinningfields, Manchester with a special showing of Anton Corbijn's Control.

All are welcome and you can even hire deckchairs. Film starts at 8.30pm.

Labels: Control, film, Ian_Curtis, Joy_Division, Manchester

Film4 screens Anton Corbijn's film Control on Tuesday at 9pm as part of its British Connection season.

And there's more... Immediately afterwards on the same channel, Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People is given a welcome repeat screening.

Film4 is available in the UK via Freeview and satellite / cable providers.

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IMDb.com links: Control | 24 Hour Party People

Labels: 24_Hour_Party_People, Control, film

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