FX announced on Monday that Boyle, the director behind praised films such as “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Steve Jobs,” and “Trainspotting,” will direct and executive produce “Pistol,” a six-episode limited series about the legendary Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. The series is created by Craig Pearce, who serves as co-writer alongside Frank Cottrell Boyce. “Pistol” stars Toby Wallace (“Babyteeth,” “Acute Misfortune”) as Steve Jones, Anson Boon (“Crawl,” “1917,” “Blackbird”) as John Lydon, Louis Partridge (“Enola Homes,” “Medici”) as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, Fabien Frankel (“The Serpent,” “NYPD Blue”) as Glen Matlock, Dylan Llewellyn (“Derry Girls”) as Wally Nightingale, Sydney Chandler (“Don’t Worry Darling”) as Chrissie Hynde, Emma Appleton (“The Witcher,” “Traitors”) as Nancy Spungen, and Maisie Williams (“Game of Thrones”) as punk icon Jordan.
Per FX, “Pistol,” which is based on Jones’ 2018 memoir, will move from West London’s council estates, to Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s notorious Kings Road SEX shop, to the international controversy that came with the release of Never Mind the Bollocks, which is frequently listed as one of the most influential albums of all time. Their single “God Save the Queen” was banned by the BBC and reached No. 1 on the UK’s NME chart, but appeared at No. 2 on the Official UK Singles chart, leading to accusations that the song was purposely kept off the top spot. For the only time in chart history, the track was listed as a blank, to avoid offense to the monarchy. Jones, Boyle, and Pearce serve as executive producers alongside Gail Lyon, Anita Camarata, Tracey Seaward, Paul Lee, and Hope Hartman “Imagine breaking into the world of ‘The Crown’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent,” Boyle said in a statement. “This is the moment that British society and culture changed forever. It is the detonation point for British street culture […] where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion […] and everyone had to watch and listen […] and everyone feared them or followed them. The Sex Pistols. At its center was a young charming illiterate kleptomaniac — a hero for the times — Steve Jones, who became in his own words, the 94th greatest guitarist of all time. This is how he got there.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
