As an event picture surrounded by controversy and expectations, “Bohemian Rhapsody” garnered a wealth of attention, box office and surprisingly–to much of the film world’s dismay–Golden Globe awards. However, as a musical biopic, like “Walk the Line” and “Straight Outta Compton” before it, the film stayed safely within its lane. Much is known about Sacha Baron Cohen’s early iteration that promised to be no-holds-barred and truthfully revealing with Queen’s biography. Of course, this version was dismissed in favor of a sugarcoated, watered-down product designed to appeal to the masses as opposed to provoking minds. This fearful approach of romanticizing the struggle of a musical act to avoid the dirty bits is a sad and regressive trend of the musical biopic. Yet fear not, for if there’s any film to break this repetitive habit, it will be the upcoming Mötley Crüe biopic: “The Dirt.”
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With any effort involved in bringing a beloved, controversial musical act to the big screen, it’s natural to have hesitations at first. “The Dirt“s presentation certainly comes with its fair share, mainly involving the cast poised to play the four members of Mötley Crüe: singer Vince Neil (Daniel Webber), guitarist Mick Mars (Iwan Rheon), bassist Nikki Sixx (Douglas Booth) and drummer Tommy Lee (rapper Machine Gun Kelly). The actors are experienced, but none of them–with the odd exception of Kelly–carry a personality that screams “Savage Rockstars.” If anything, the film appears to be a vehicle for Kelly’s stardom amongst younger audiences. And anyone who’s given his music a listen knows his tendency for over-the-top brashness.
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Despite these players, the director, however, promises a film that won’t be your typical musical biopic, but instead a reckless, chaotic and hopefully true-to-the-source of Mötley Crüe’s wild biography, which the film is based off. Jeff Tremaine comes from helming the Jackass films (including “Bad Grandpa”). After a building a career from simultaneously repulsing and attracting curious moviegoers, Tremaine is a perfect fit for a story like this.
One can only imagine what the atmosphere of ‘The Dirt“’s set must’ve been. In replicating the raucous and unrighteous activity ofMötley Crüe–who incidentally, recorded four new songs for the movie— with the combination of talent at hand, it seems likely that life imitated art.
“The Dirt” will be released by Netflix on March 22, 2019.
