mick jagger Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Now that most of us acquire our music online these days, radio DJs don't have the same sway as taste-makers that they used to. But in the '70s, the final word in rock music was Rodney Bigenheimer. In George Hickenlooper's 2003 documentary about the infamous DJ and rock music icon, Mayor of Sunset Strip, we are shown Bigenheimer as an awkward and strange little fellow who, in the end, did it all for the music. Now, thanks to the nice folks at SlashControl you can now watch the documentary as one of their collection of (pretty awesome) free movies.

You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Bigenheimer was one of the biggest names in the rock music scene, and was credited with helping to break bands like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Nirvana, and even Coldplay. Bigenheimer has been relegated to the 'graveyard shift' these days at KROQ, but considering that Hickenlooper was able to get appearances from some of the biggest names in rock (everyone from Mick Jagger to Rob Zombie) you can't deny Bigenheimer still has some clout.

Hickenlooper's film is more than just a walk down music history lane. It also manages to show you someone who truly loves the music, and maybe it's a little sad that it never quite loved him back. But this documentary reminds us that his legend lives on -- you might even remember a certain homage to Bigenheimer in Cameron Crowe's rock n' roll tale, Almost Famous when he works in one of Rodney's famous quotes "It's all happening!", and during the 'Mayor's' reign at KROQ, it really was...

Watch The Mayor of Sunset Strip at SlashControl

You've probably heard folks talk about the atrocities being committed in the Congo, or skipped through a commercial featuring a slideshow of poor, dirty, unhappy faces in an effort to win your donations -- but the problems aren't going away, and perhaps you'll take a few minutes to check out this new short film from Ben Affleck to see if there's anything you can do to help. Affleck teams up with UNHCR and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in a new campaign (which includes the following short, directed by Affleck) to "help raise funds and awareness about the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the work of the UN refugee agency." They hope to eventually raise $23 million in 2009 to help pay for stuff like clean water supplies and emergency humanitarian assistance kits.

From UNHCR: "In November, Affleck visited Africa to shoot footage in DRCs strife-torn North Kivu province, where tens of thousands have fled their homes since fighting resumed in August. He also visited Uganda, where some 30,000 people have sought refuge and are receiving help from UNHCR. The result is a short film entitled Gimme Shelter, set to the classic Rolling Stones song of the same name, which Jagger and the group donated to the campaign."

Watch the short below, then please head on over to the UNHCR website to see what you can do to help.

No, no, there's not going to be a remake of A Clockwork Orange starring Mick Jagger. At least I don't think so. This is just a fun bit of what-could-have-been. We like to play around with alternate-universe casting here once in a while, and this one's a doozy. Someone found a letter from producer Si Litvinoff to legendary director John Schlesinger, urging him to consider directing an adaptation of Anthony Burgess's novel. And part of the pitch was that Mick Jagger wanted the role of the psychopathic Alex, and that the Beatles "love[d] the project" and wanted to provide the musical score. Fortunately (?) Schlesinger wasn't interested and the project eventually wound up falling to good old Stanley Kubrick.

The Clockwork Orange we got was -- like all of Kubrick's work -- too singular a film to even try to imagine how someone else's version would have been different. But I admit I'm amused (and intrigued) by the notion of Jagger taking on the Malcolm McDowell role. Hell, after watching the manic two-hour stage show he put on in Shine a Light at age 63, I'm kind of convinced that he's actually omnipotent. As for the Beatles? That's just creepy. I'll stick with Kubrick's classical selections.

[hat tip: Movie City News]

Concert films are constantly at war with themselves. If the musical act is transcendent, then a filmed document will never come close to reproducing the experience of seeing and hearing the act live, in the same way that an ordinary photograph can only serve, at best, as a reminder of a moment. Even a great, exact reproduction is still just a copy, not the original. If the act is merely average or worse, then why bother to record it?

The Rolling Stones have been captured performing in concert on film or tape numerous times, so the challenge that lay before Martin Scorsese was to do something different. After all, this is the man who redefined concert films with The Last Waltz in 1978, in which he eschewed the prevailing wisdom that a concert had to include generous allotments of time devoted to the concert goer's point of view. Instead, Scorsese kept the action tightly focused on the stage, allowing the audience to enjoy the interplay between the members of The Band and various guests who shared in the group's final performance. He balanced that with lively interviews; in the process, he helped to establish Robbie Robertson as a viable solo personality in the eyes of the film industry.

I should amend the previous paragraph to read like this: "The challenge that lay before Martin Scorsese was to do something different or so I thought!" As it turns out, my expectations for Shine a Light were far too high.

You like Martin Scorsese, right? You're a fan of The Rolling Stones, correct? Well, get ready to have your "19th Nervous Breakdown." AOL is reporting that the release date for Scorsese's Stones documentary has been pushed back. Waaay back. Seven months, to be exact. Just a couple weeks ago, Monika told you the film would be released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on September 21st. But now we won't get it until "sometime next April." What's the reason? Why can't we get no "Satisfaction?" A spokeswoman says that more time was needed to set up the promotional campaign for the film, because the band is on tour in Europe until August 26th. Isn't that a "Bitch?" I've got serious "Mixed Emotions" about this. I mean, "I Know It's Only Rock n' Roll...But I Like It!" I'll stop.

The documentary is called Shine a Light (also the title of one of my favorite Stones songs), and its concert footage was shot over two nights last fall at the beautiful Beacon Theater in New York. Guest performers for the shows included Buddy Guy, the almost impossibly cool Jack White, and Miss Dirrrrrty herself -- Christina Aguilera. The film will intersperse footage from the shows with career-spanning documentary material. Hopefully it will be as fascinating as what Scorsese did with his Dylan doc, the excellent No Direction Home. Scorsese also directed one of the greatest concert films of all time -- The Last Waltz, which documented the final show of The Band and included terrific performances from the likes of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and -- with a hunk of cocaine visibly dangling from his nose -- Neil Young. Scorsese has used Rolling Stones music in nearly all of his films. I'm surprised he didn't have the monks in Kundun dance to "Start Me Up." Hell, he's used "Gimme Shelter" three times -- in Goodfellas, Casino, and The Departed!

Oh yes, The Departed gang sure is busy today; not only is William Monahan re-teaming with Leonardo DiCaprio to remake another Hong Kong flick, but the Oscar-winning scribe is hopping back into the sack with Martin Scorsese. Now that Paramount has Scorsese locked into a four-year first-look deal, they sure as hell want some of that Oscar love too -- can you blame them? Studio has put Monahan to work rewriting The Long Play, a rock & roll epic which Scorsese will most likely direct (once he decides amongst the several other projects he currently has on his plate).

Pic, which was originally set up at Disney, is based off an idea from Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. When it didn't quite fit Disney's family-friendly mold -- and since Jagger just finished working with Scorsese on the director's Rolling Stones doc -- Paramount scooped it up, kept Jagger on as a producer and pulled in Scorsese. Story follows the 40-year career of two friends in the music business, from early R&B to contemporary hip-hop. (Not exactly sure why it's being called a "rock & roll epic" when the main focus is R&B and hip-hop, but we'll save that debate for another day.)

So, what does this do to all those Departed sequel rumors? Well, for the time being, I'd consider them squashed; Variety claims this will be Monahan's next script, though he also has the Confessions of Pain remake set up at Warners. Scorsese, on the other hand, has a number of projects circulating with his name attached as director. Apart from The Long Play, he also has The Last Duel (and a Theodore Roosevelt biopic?) set up at Paramount, as well as Silence and the kid's flick Hugo Cabret over at Warner Bros. Wouldn't it be cool if, at some point, Paramount and Warners threw down the gloves and just fought to the death, with the winner gaining the opportunity to make Scorsese's next film?

Odds and ends from Tuesday:

• Seems like Michelle Yeoh is a busy girl as of late: Just the other day, we reported her signing on to star in True North for director Asif Kapadia. Now, it appears Yeoh will also hitch a ride alongside Vin Diesel in Babylon A.D. In the pic, she'll play a nun who takes care of a young girl that might be infected with a deadly virus. And no, I don't believe it's a case of Diesel-itis.
• Rolling Stones frontman (aka the guy with the groovy lips) Mick Jagger is set to co-produce an animated film (along with EuropaCorp) called Ruby Tuesday which, according to the Hollywood Reporter, will include 12 songs from the band. Pic is set to begin production later this year and will revolve around a "single mother searching for happiness in New York." I don't know about you, but an animated flick featuring a ton of music from the Rolling Stones makes me the brown sugar in my blood boil with excitement.
• We've talked so much about the flick Jumper here on Cinematical, I figured it was only right to share with you the first set pics from the film. Directed by Doug Liman, pic stars Samuel L. Jackson as an NSA agent put in charge of tracking a kid (Hayden Christensen) who has the ability to teleport places. Pictured above: Sam Jackson ... from the future! That's right, even in the future he's still a cool dude.

Odds and ends from Friday:

• There's always been something about Cary Elwes that doesn't sit right with me. I'm not exactly sure what, but the dude definitely strikes me as somewhat creepy in a stalker-ish kind of way. Lucky for him, this makes Elwes perfect for the part of the child-molesting step-father in Garry Marshall's upcoming Georgia Rule. The actor recently signed on to the film in which he'll play an all around great guy and husband who, at times, secretly molests Lindsay Lohan, his step-daughter. Sounds peachy.
• 20th Century Fox desperately wants to be cool. And they're proving it by picking up an untitled comedy pitch by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman. Story is based on a real-life seminar for adults who feel as if they've lost touch with what's "cool" these days. Pic will follow four ad execs who wind up in a high school where they find themselves reverting back to a teenager's mentality. I assume this means there will be tons of note passing, keg-stands and sloppy make-out sessions. Hey, I'm game.
• According to British newspaper Daily Express, Keith Richards begged the producers of Pirates of the Caribbean to let his fellow Rolling Stones bandmates appear in the third installment of the franchise along with him. Richards thought it would be a hoot if Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts could play a vile pirate crew that hangs around Richards' character. Apparently, however, producers denied his request saying the script doesn't allow for it. Not for nothing, but one Rolling Stone is enough. Throw the whole band in there and now you're coming dangerously close to something The Simpsons would do. Just my two cents.

Way back in October, we heard a rumor that Hayden Christenson, best known for his non-performance as Anakin Skywalker in two of the Star Wars prequels, had been cast in Factory Girl as a character based heavily on Bob Dylan. Today Rush and Malloy are saying that this rumor, whilst once true, now isn't so much. The film's original script included a torrid affair between Dylan and Edie Sedgwick (to be played by Sienna Miller), but after protests from the Dylan camp that the affair never actually happened in real life, the script has been rewritten. Christenson's character is now some kind of strange hybrid rock star, with elements of Dylan, Mick Jagger and Jim Morrisson, apparently, thrown into the mix. Still, the Boy Who Was Anakin says that Dylan remains his key influence.  "I don't want to talk with him," he said, "But I am watching all his documentaries. I'm doing my homework."