Revolver rocks with Stone Roses-themed film

Tom Green, a former Screen International Star of Tomorrow who has directed TV’s Misfits and short Brixton ‘85, will make his feature film directorial debut with the as-yet-untitled film. The story is about a group of council estate lads and a young indie band on a journey to see their idols play. The May 1990 outdoor concert in was attended by about 27,000 people and has since been thought of as a Woodstock of the Madchester generation.

The Stone Roses have given permission to use their music for the film, and “the odd cameo” is expected. The project will start shooting in the first half of this year.

Chris Coghill (actor in Shameless, 24 Hour Party People and Honeymooner) wrote the script. The film had development funding from the UK Film Council.

Producers are Fiona Neilson and Esther Douglas of Fiesta Productions. 

“This moment in British music has yet to be told on the big screen with quite this passion and Fiesta’s approach to this project is why we came on board,” said Revolver’s Justin Marciano. “Securing Tom and Chris as two fresh, major talents is an exciting prospect”

Director Tom Green added: “This is a raw and truly authentic rites of passage story. It’s full of the humour, heartache, dreams and fears of being part of a brotherhood of mates, and set to the greatest record ever written. The Roses died in 95. This is the resurrection”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Revolver on this,” said producer Esther Douglas.  “They saw the potential in the project really early on. We’re delighted by their passion and support for it and are looking forward to what we know will be a great experience with them.”

Producer Fiona Neilson added: “The Stone Roses changed our teenage lives and Chris has captured that perfectly, creating a screenplay that will appeal both to fans and to a broad audience who will fall in love with the characters and their story. We’ve also been huge fans of Tom’s since seeing his NFTS shorts and loved his work on Misfits. He is a fantastically talented director with a brilliant vision and we could not be happier to be working with him on this.” 

Distributor Revolver has made two other films from its low-budget production arm Gunslinger: Shank and the forthcoming Anuvahood.

Fiesta’s other projects include Mat Whitecross’ Ashes, Kenny Glenaan’s Remembrance, Marcus Garvey drama Marked Man written by Kwame Kwei Armah, and contemporary drama Nanny written by Braulio Mantovani.