Practices of Verisimilitude in Pop Music Biopics: A Conversation with Todd Eckert and James Anthony Pearson on Control, and Nick Moran on Telstar

Authors

  • Jon Stewart BIMM Institute, Brighton, and University of Southampton
  • Liam Maloy Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool
  • Benjamin Halligan University of Wolverhampton

Keywords:

Film, Biopics, Fandom, Production, Verisimilitude, Realism

Abstract

The arresting look and feel of two recent British music biopics, Control (directed by Anton Corbijn, 2007) and Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (directed by Nick Moran, 2008), prompts a reconsideration of questions of realism and authenticity – rationales, strategies, practices and constructions – in the historical popular music biopic. The first-hand accounts collated here highlight the ways in which verisimilitude can be compromised by the production process, particularly in relation to budget restrictions and expectations, performance limitations, equipment and props use, contemporary or period dialogue, music copyright, and a myriad other issues and challenges relating to the production of “period” cinema. 10.5429/2079-3871(2017)v7i1.3en

Author Biographies

Jon Stewart, BIMM Institute, Brighton, and University of Southampton

Course Leader BA (Hons) in Music Business and Senior Academic Lecturer at BIMM Institute, Brighton. Founder, guitarist and co-songwriter for Britpop band Sleeper, current PhD researcher at University of Southampton. Publications include "If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day: Augmenting Robert Johnson" in M/C: A Journal of Media & Culture, Vol. 16 No. 6, 2013; "Oh Blessed Holy Caffeine Tree: Coffee in Popular Music" in M/C: A Journal of Media & Culture, Vol. 15 No. 2, 2012; "Are We Not Men?: Eno versus Devo" in Pattie, S. and Albiez, D. (Eds.) Brian Eno: Oblique Music (London: Continuum 2016).

Liam Maloy, Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool

Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool. PhD: Spinning the child: How records made for children construct childhood. Songwriter and bass player for Britpop band Soda. Publications include “Why Couldn’t the Wind Blow Backwards?” Woody Guthrie’s Songs for Children” in Woody Guthrie Annual, 2, 2016, “Stayin’ Alive in da Club: The Illegality and Hyperreality of Mashups” in International Association for the Study of Popular Music Journal, IASPM@Journal, Vol 1, No. 2, 2010, and a review of “Rock Star: The making of musical icons from Elvis to Springsteen” by David R. Shumway in Celebrity Studies, Vol. 4, No. 7, 2016.

Benjamin Halligan, University of Wolverhampton

Director of the Doctoral College, University of Wolverhampton. Publications include Michael Reeves (Manchester UP, 2003), Desires for Reality (Berghahn, 2016), and the co-edited books Mark E. Smith and The Fall (Ashgate), The Music Documentary (Routledge), Resonances (Bloomsbury), Reverberations (Bloomsbury), and The Arena Concert (Bloomsbury).

References

Bibliography

Auslander, P. –

Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture. London and New York: Routledge.

Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music. Ann Arbour: University of Michigan Press.

Benjamin, W. 1936. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Available at: https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm Accessed: 8 February 2016

Bennett, A. and J. Stratton. 2010. Britpop and the English Music Tradition. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Curtis, D. 1995. Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division. London: Faber & Faber.

Edgar, R., Fairclough-Isaacs, K., Halligan, B., Spelman, N. 2015. ‘A Stately Pleasure Dome’? In Edgar, R., Fairclough-Isaacs, K., Halligan, B, Spelman, N Eds. The Arena Concert: Music, Media and Mass Entertainment. New York, London, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic: 1-12.

Fisher, M. 2014. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. London: Zero Books.

Halligan, B. 2015. Intimate Live Girls. In Edgar, R., Fairclough-Isaacs, K., Halligan, B, Spelman, N Eds. The Arena Concert: Music, Media and Mass Entertainment. New York, London, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic: 291-307.

Jameson, F. 2001. Signatures of the Visible. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.

Sanjek, D., with Attah, T., Duffett, M. and Halligan, B Eds. 2018. Stories We Could Tell. London and New York: Routledge.

Taylor, B. F. 2012. The British New Wave: A Certain Tendency? Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Videography

A Kind of Loving. 1962. Dir. John Schlesinger, Anglo-Amalgamated / Governor Films.

Amadeus. 1984. Dir. Milos Forman, The Saul Zaentz Company / Orion Pictures.

A Taste of Honey. 1961. Dir. Tony Richardson, Woodfall Film Productions / British Lion Films.

Beat Girl. 1960. Dir. Edmund T. Gréville, Renown Pictures / Victoria Films.

Billy Liar. 1963. Dir. John Schlesinger, Vic Films Productions / Waterfall Productions / Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors / Warner-Pathe.

Control. 2007. Dir. Anton Corbijn, Momentum Pictures / The Weinstein Company.

Expresso Bongo. 1959. Dir. Val Guest, British Lion Films.

Lisztomania. 1975. Dir. Ken Russell, GoodTimes Enterprises / Visual Programme Systems Limited / Warner Bros.

Live It Up! 1963. Dir. Lance Comfort, Rank Organisation.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. 1998. Dir. Guy Ritchie, HandMade Films / SKA Films / The Steve Tisch Company / Summit Entertainment / PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

Mahler. 1974. Dir. Ken Russell, Mayfair Films / Visual Programme Systems Limited.

Play It Cool. 1962. Dir. Michael Winner, Independent Artists / Coronado Productions Ltd. / Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. 1960. Dir. Karel Reisz, Woodfall Film Productions / Bryanston Films.

Sid and Nancy. 1986. Dir. Alex Cox, Palace Pictures / The Samuel Goldwyn Company.

Sparrows Can’t Sing. 1963. Dir. Joan Littlewood, Elstree Distributors.

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story. 2008. Dir. Nick Moran, Aspiration Films / G2 Pictures.

The Crying Game.1992. Dir. Neil Jordan, Palace Pictures / Channel 4 Films / British Screen.

The Day the Earth Caught Fire. 1961. Dir. Val Guest, Val Guest Productions / British Lion Films / Universal International Pictures.

The Doors. 1991. Dir. Oliver Stone, Bill Graham Films / Carolco Pictures / Imagine Entertainment / Ixtlan / Tri-Star Pictures.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. 1962. Dir. Tony Richardson, Woodfall Film Productions / British Lion Films.

The Music Lovers. 1970. Dir. Ken Russell, Russ-Arts / United Artists.

This Sporting Life. 1963. Dir. Lindsay Anderson, Rank Organisation / Janus Films.

Tommy. 1975. Dir. Ken Russell, RSO Records / Columbia Pictures.

Discography

Heinz. 1963. “Just Like Eddie”. Decca. July, UK.

John Leyton. 1961. “Johnny Remember Me”. Top Rank International. August, UK.

The Honeycombs. 1964. “Have I the Right?” Pye Records. July, UK.

The Sex Pistols. 1977. “God Save the Queen”. Virgin / A&M. 27 May, UK.

The Tornadoes. 1962. “Telstar”. Decca. 17 August, UK.

Interviews

Todd Eckert. 2017. Interviewed by Liam Maloy, Nottingham, 11 Jan.

Nick Moran. 2017. Interviewed by Jon Stewart, London, 10 Jan.

James Anthony Pearson. 2016. Interviewed by Liam Maloy, Nottingham, 21 Dec.

Downloads

Published

30-10-2017

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2017): Pop Life: The Popular Music Biopic

Section

Articles – Special Issue

License

Authors retain copyright, while licensing their work under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.