John Lydon Says He Can’t Make His Own Biopic
John Lydon says he's unable to make his own biopic because the remaining members of the Sex Pistols would prevent it.
He recently lost a court case over the upcoming TV series Pistol, based on the memoirs of guitarist Steve Jones. Lydon said he wasn't consulted over its contents, and objected to the project going ahead without his input. A court ruled, however, that the band’s democratic voting system meant that it could proceed without his blessing.
Lydon said there would be “serious problems all around” if he tried to tell his own story on film. “Because Disney productions invested so much money in the court case, I'm basically wrecked,” he told Yahoo. “There's nothing really to argue about. If they want to trash the legend of the Sex Pistols, it seems that that's exactly what they're going to go and do.
“They've put together this whatever production … but they've done some of that without any, any reference to me at all,” said Lydon, who was recently revealed as the Jester in the current series of The Masked Singer. “Never asked me about one single thing, just blasted it all out in the media, and then expected me to just agree with it willy-nilly. Rather spiteful and childish behavior on their part, and really rather absurd.”
Describing his question as “really, seriously honest,” Lydon asked: “If you're going to be thinking of the Sex Pistols, how on Earth are you going to do that without Johnny Rotten, the lead singer who brought the entire image of that band and wrote all the songs? How are you going to leave him out? Why would you do that? What would you want to do that for? I've been preserving the quality and name of the Sex Pistols ever since we broke up, and I felt a duty to maintain the truth. So, it seems like those cohorts over there don't mind being a part of a Disney production, and don't mind whether it's full of lies and nonsense.”
Lydon said he endured a “very, very difficult time” trying to fight the legal battle while caring for his ailing wife Nora. “And they knew that, too,” he said of his former bandmates. “They knew that I couldn't take it on money-wise. I can't argue with an enormous company. There's no way.”
The court's ruling, Lydon concluded, would keep him from making his own biopic – “because [the other Sex Pistols] would outvote me.” But he added, “I don't moan about it. … No matter what aspect my life's going through – upturns, downturns – I’ll find the comedy.”