Danny Boyle’s Sex Pistols series Pistol is now available to watch on Disney Plus, and as you might expect from a series about one of the most anarchic and controversial bands of all time, it hasn’t arrived without some behind-the-scenes controversy.
John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) tried to stop his bandmates from licensing the band’s music for the series, and called the series “the most disrespectful sh*t I’ve ever had to endure”. A legal battle then saw Paul Cook and Steve Jones win out, which allowed their songs to feature in the series. It’s understood that Lydon hasn’t yet seen the show.
Now, speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Anson Boon, who plays Lydon in the series, said: “I know [Lydon’s] gonna watch it, he’s said that in the press. In one of his press releases he said he’s gonna watch it.”
Jacob Slater, who plays Cook in the series, then chipped in that “He’s gonna love it! Even if he doesn’t tell us, he’ll love it.”
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During the filming, the cast spent time with Cook, Jones, Glen Matlock and more of the real life figures portrayed in the show, and Boon told RadioTimes.com that “the one thing I would say that’s similar amongst all the real people we met is that they consistently hold John’s contributions to music as a whole in the highest regard, they all speak of him really well.”
The series is based on Steve Jones’ 2017 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, and is therefore told from his perspective, rather than frontman Lydon’s.
Danny Boyle recently addressed this when speaking with The Guardian, saying that “you can’t make a series about [Lydon] because he’s unmanageable. Everyone knows that. To get this book from Steve is like a side door in.”
He added: “It allows you to look at the whole group. But you have to acknowledge there’s a genius in there and it’s Rotten. He’s the person that changed everything, a key cultural figure in our landscape.”
Boyle also acknowledged the feud, saying: “I love Lydon for what he does and I don’t want him to like it – I want him to attack it. I think that’s his absolute right. Why would you change the habit of a lifetime?”
Pistol is available on Disney Plus in the UK now. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.
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