They’re Making a Guns N’ Roses Movie
According to Marc Canter, heir to the Canter’s Deli fortune and author of Reckless Road: Guns N’ Roses and the Making of Appetite for Destruction, his book is now being turned into a Hollywood film, complete with “A-List actors.” Says Canter on Mygnrforum.com:
“I do have a big say-so on the script, which is still being put together now, but so far it’s looking cool.
“I am going to see that everyone in the cast is doing their job and doing justice to the band. Since I was there, I know what the dialog was between the band for many of the events that took place.
“When you find out who is making the movie, you will then understand that it will be very cool. I’m proud of all the hard work that was put into this project and it’s just going to kick ass. In no way will it be a cheesy movie like Rock Star.”
As a grown man who makes his living utilizing the name “Axl Rosenberg,” I would, obviously, go see this movie on opening night. Still, I feel cynical about its prospects for being good, for the same reason that artist biopics are almost never good (even when they make money and/or win awards):
- Because the filmmakers need the musicians or musicians’ estate(s) to sign off on the project in order to get the appropriate music rights, these movies often end up being hagiographies. For example, in Notorious, the Biggie biopic produced by Biggie’s producer and Biggie’s mom, Biggie has the good sense to call everyone with whom he has beef and make amends just before he’s killed in a drive-by shooting. I mean.
- They almost always try to fit the artist’s entire career into one two-three hour movie, and that’s a Herculean task which usually results in events being condensed to a laughable degree. For example, in Ray, Ray Charles travels to Seattle, whereupon he steps off the bus, immediately hears someone playing the trumpet, walks over to him, says “Hey, you’re really good! What’s your name?”, to which the trumpeter replies, “Quincy Jones.” I suppose its possible that Ray Charles met Quincy Jones literally seconds after arriving in Seattle for the first time, but it seems highly unlikely. Hopefully they’d side-step this issue in a Reckless Road movie by concentrating specifically the period when GN’R made Appetite for Destruction (as is the case in Canter’s book, in case the title didn’t give it away), but who knows.
So those would be my primary concerns (to say nothing of the nightmare scenario wherein they cast, like, Daniel Radcliffe to play Slash and Zac Efron to play Axl Rose or something).
But who knows if this thing is ever even getting made? It’s a little odd that Canter would break the news via a GN’R fan forum, but even if he’s being truthful, the Hollywood studio system develops far more movies than they ever actually make. They’ve been trying to make a movie of Motley Crue’s The Dirt almost since it was published, and last year, they announced a new director for the project… and we haven’t heard a peep since. So Reckless Road: The Motion Picture could end up in development hell for the next fifteen years.
While we wait to see if this thing gets off the ground or not, you can read my 2008 interview with Canter here.
[via Metal Underground]
