English actor/director David Morrissey — who delivered an outstanding turn in the recent “Red Riding” trilogy as a guilt-ridden police detective superintendent — has secured the rights to the film rights to “Head On,” the autobiography of heralded British rock musician Julian Cope.
In mainstream circles, Cope is best remembered for the 1984 pop slice, “World Shut Your Mouth” (also the name of his solo debut album). In music snob circles, he’s probably best known as the frontman for the Liverpudlian post-punk outfit The Teardrop Explodes (best remembered for the song, “Reward,” and they took their name from issue #77 of Marvel Comics’ Daredevil). And in, well, Julian Cope-obsessives circles, he’s known as an Renaissance man/ eccentric LSD casualty, an author and expert on everything Krautrock (he wrote the excellent 1995 book “Krautrocksampler“), and an antiquary and overall musicologist. He’s also now known as a leading authority on Neolithic stone monuments (yes, he’s a very weird dude).
“Head-On” covers the years 1976 to 1982 and focuses on Cope’s time before, during and the ending and break-up of The Teardrop Explodes, plus his manic personality which, as the Independent puts it, involves “egomania, debauchery and a surfeit of psychedelic drugs.” Here’s the amazon synopsis.
Cope’s two-part autobiography (which here includes “Repossessed”), here bound together as one book to the delight of many fans, does not rely on tales of drug abuse and severe mood swings to hold the reader. Part 1, Head-On, first self-published in England in 1994, recounts Cope’s struggles and eventual coming to grips with his status as a British music icon (he lead the Liverpool New Wave band the Teardrop Explodes). Part 2, Repossessed, details Cope’s solo years and, strangely enough, his vicarious telephone travels with Echo and the Bunnymen drummer Pete deFreitas across America in the 1980s. With their casts of detailed characters, who take on literary qualities, both tales provide insight into the birth and growth of the British postpunk scene. Cope’s transformation from a kid searching for acceptance to a rock star content with the search for self-understanding begs for a concluding third part.
While a film on Cope and the Teardrop Explodes sounds kind of awesome, it’s fairly esoteric stuff. Cope is a poster boy for LSD abuse and knowingly titled his 1984 solo album Fried (one that he appeared naked on the cover of). Rhys Ifans — who recently scored the coveted “Spider-Man” villain gig — is said to be a possible casting choice for Cope and that’s brilliant casting. Morrissey, who made his directorial debut in 2009 with “Don’t Worry About Me,” may play Bill Drummond, the bands’ idiosyncratic manager, who went on to front notorious music tricksters, the KLF — a band previously known as possibly being the greatest musical art-pranksters of all time, that is until the Insane Clown Possse recently took that crown from them when they revealed they’ve been Christian all-along and their violent act was simply a ruse to bring audiences to Jesus Christ. [Independent via Bleeding Cool]
