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Sid and Nancy

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Sid and Nancy
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlex Cox
Written by
  • Alex Cox
  • Abbe Wool
Produced byEric Fellner
Starring
CinematographyRoger Deakins
Edited byDavid Martin
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byPalace Pictures
Release dates
  • May 1986(1986-05)(Cannes)
  • 12 September 1986(1986-09-12)(TIFF)
  • 7 November 1986(1986-11-07)(United States)
Running time
114 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4 million
Box office$2.8 million

Sid and Nancy(also known asSid and Nancy: Love Kills) is a 1986 Britishbiographical filmdirected byAlex Cox,co-written with Abbe Wool, and starringGary OldmanandChloe Webb.The film portrays the life ofSid Vicious,bassist of thepunk rockband theSex Pistols,and his destructive relationship with girlfriendNancy Spungen.The film also features supporting performances fromDavid Hayman,Xander Berkeley,andCourtney Love.

The film premiered at theCannes Film Festivalin May 1986, and was released theatrically in the United States in November of that same year.[2]Although it failed to recoup its production budget at the box office, the film was received positively by most critics and developed acult following.

Plot

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On 12 October 1978, police are summoned to theHotel ChelseainNew York City,where they findNancy Spungendead. Her boyfriend,Sex PistolsbassistSid Vicious,is taken into custody. Sid is driven to a police station and told to describe what happened.

A little more than a year earlier, in 1977, close friends and band members Sid andJohnny Rottenmeet Nancy, aheroin-addicted Americangroupiewho had come toLondonto bed theSex Pistols.Sid dismisses her at first, as her intentions are obvious, but begins dating her after feeling sympathy for the rejection she faces from fellow punk performers. The two swiftly bond over heroin use, and it is implied that Nancy introduces Sid to the drug.

Sid and Nancy fall deeply in love, but their self-destructive, drug-fueled relationship frays Sid's relationship with the rest of the band. Nancy is distraught when Sid departs on a month-long American tour without her. The tour is notably disastrous, with Sid strung out of his mind, often drunk or onmethamphetamine,and physically violent. Phoebe, Sid's friend and road manager, unsuccessfully attempts to help him stop drinking. Meanwhile, Nancy remains in London, staying with her friend Linda, adominatrix.Although several of Sid's friends and acquaintances warn him of Nancy's devastating effect on his life, Sid stubbornly ignores these warnings. On 17 January 1978, in the midst of the group's American tour, the band breaks up.

Sid reunites with Nancy in New York City, and he attempts to start a solo career with Nancy as his manager. The two visitParisto begin recording sessions, but the trip is unfruitful. Sid is quickly dismissed in the music industry as a has-been, and he and Nancy descend deeper into heroin addiction; Nancy also begins suffering from severedepression,and the couple eventually make asuicide pact.Nancy brings Sid toPhiladelphiato meet her family, who are horrified by the couple's reckless behavior and physical state. Sid and Nancy return to New York and settle in the Hotel Chelsea, where they live in squalor and depend onopiatessupplied by their drug dealer, Bowery Snax.

Their love affair ends tragically one night when, during an argument in which Sid announces his plans to stop using heroin and return toEnglandto restart his life, a suicidal Nancy begs him to kill her. She attacks him and they fight in a drug-induced haze, leading to him stabbing her, although whether it was intentional is left to interpretation. They fall asleep and later Nancy awakes and stumbles into the bathroom, where she collapses and dies, calling Sid for help. Sid is bailed out temporarily by his mother, who is also a heroin addict. After Sid wanders to a restaurant, some street kids convince him to dance with them. A taxi appears and picks Sid up, and he believes he finds Nancy alive in the back seat. The two embrace as the cab drives off.

Apostscriptsays that Vicious died of aheroin overdose,and lastly reads: "R.I.P. Nancy and Sid."

Cast

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Production

[edit]

Development

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The idea for the film began with a 1980 screenplay entitledToo Kool to Die;a fictional story inspired by Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious, featuring refences to current English politics which Cox realised would make it unlikely to be financed. Four years later, after his directorial debut withRepo Man,Cox heard rumour of the possibility of a Hollywood film documenting the relationship of Spungen and Vicious, withMadonnaandRupert Everettin the lead roles - "For anyone who had been vaguely into the Punk movement, this was a troubling idea indeed", Cox wrote in his 2008 autobiography, and it motivated him to re-work his earlier script.[3]“I felt an obligation to struggle against that project, fearing it would be even worse than mine.”[4]

Cox's film, originally titledLove Kills,is based on the mutually destructive, drug and sex filled relationship between Sid and Nancy. Nancy's parents, Deborah and Frank Spungen, wanted no part in a film depicting their child's death. Sid's mother, Anne Beverley, initially tried to prevent the film from being made, but after meeting with Cox, decided to help the production, even lending Vicious' own heavy metal chain and padlock for Oldman to wear in the film.[3]Some of the supporting characters are composites, invented to streamline the plot.

Work on the film was almost complete when the financers received a letter from a party claiming to own the titleLove Killsand threatening legal action. Cox reluctantly changed it at lawyers' insistence, later describing the titleSid and Nancyas "bland". He apparently did like the title given the Mexican video version;Two Lives Destroyed by Drugs.[3]

Casting

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According to director Cox, he had originally consideredDaniel Day-Lewisfor the part of Sid Vicious;[5]however, Cox offered Oldman the part of Vicious after seeing him play the lead role of Scopey in a 1984 production ofEdward Bond'sThe Pope's Wedding.Oldman twice turned down the role before accepting it, because, in his own words: "I wasn't really that interested in Sid Vicious and the punk movement. I'd never followed it. It wasn't something that interested me. The script I felt was banal and 'who cares' and 'why bother' and all of that. And I was a little bit sort-of with my nose in the air and sort-of thinking 'well the theatre – so much more superior' and all of that." He reconsidered based on the salary and the urging of his agent.[6]- "My agent at the time put a lot of pressure and bullied me into it", according to an Oldman interview, included in an early DVD version of the film.[3]He lost weight to play the emaciated Vicious by eating nothing but "steamed fish and lots of melon", and was briefly hospitalised when he lost too much. Oldman later dismissed his performance, saying: "I don't think I played Sid Vicious very well".[7]

Courtney Loverang co-writer Abbe Wool[3]and recorded a video audition for the role of Spungen.[8]Cox was impressed by Love's audition, but has said the film's investors insisted on an experienced actress for the co-leading role. Therefore, instead, Cox wrote the minor role of Gretchen, one of Sid and Nancy's New York junkie friends, specifically for her benefit.[9]Cox would later cast Love as one of the leads inStraight to Hell(1987).Chloe Webb,who had appeared in several small television roles at the time, was instead cast in the role of Spungen.[10]

In his 2007 autobiography,Guns N' RosesguitaristSlashrevealed that the casting director hired all five members of Guns N' Roses as extras for a club scene, having coincidentally scouted them in different locations without their knowledge. He said "all of us showed up to the first day of casting, like 'Hey...what are you doing here?'" However, Slash was the only one in the group to stay for the entire shoot.

Webb and Oldman improvised the dialogue heard in the scene leading up to Spungen's death but based it on interviews and other materials available to them. The stabbing scene is fictionalized and based only on conjecture. Cox told theNME:"We wanted to make the film not just about Sid Vicious andpunk rock,but as an anti-drugs statement, to show the degradation caused to various people is not at all glamorous. "[citation needed]

The original music is byPray for Rain,Joe Strummer,andThe Pogues.A track byTears for Fears( "Swords and Knives" ) was also recorded for the film but was rejected by the filmmakers for not being "punk" enough. The track later appeared on the band'sSeeds of Lovealbum in 1989.[11]

Prominent musicians made appearances in the film includingCircle Jerks,Love,Iggy Pop,NicoandEdward Tudor-PoleofTenpole Tudor.

Filming

[edit]

The film was primarily shot in London and New York City, though additional photography (particularly the sequences of the Sex Pistols' North American tour) was completed inLos AngelesandEl Centro, California.[12]

Release

[edit]

Critical reception

[edit]

From the 65 reviews collected by review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,the film received an overall approval rating of 88%, with the consensus: "Visceral, energetic, and often very sad,Sid & Nancyis also a surprisingly touching love story, and Gary Oldman is outstanding as the late punk rock icon Sid Vicious. "[13]Roger EbertgaveSid and Nancyfour-out-of-four in his review forThe Chicago Sun-Times,writing that Cox and his crew "pull off the neat trick of creating a movie full of noise and fury, and telling a meticulous story right in the middle of it."[14]Appearing onThe Late Show Starring Joan Rivers,Ebert said, to agreement fromRiversand applause from the audience, that Oldman "definitely won't be[Oscar]nominated – and should be ", this being for the reason that" Hollywood will not nominate an actor for portraying a creep, no matter how good the performance is ".[15]In a subsequent article on Oldman, Ebert referred to the movie's titular couple as "punk rock'sRomeo and Juliet."[16]

In his bookSid Vicious: Rock N' Roll Star,Malcolm Butt describes Webb's performance as Spungen as "intense, powerful, and most important of all, believable." Oldman's portrayal of Vicious was ranked #62 inPremieremagazine's"100 Greatest Performances of All Time".[17]Uncutmagazineranked Gary Oldman as #8 in its "10 Best actors in rockin' roles" list, describing his portrayal as a "hugely sympathetic reading of the punk figurehead as a lost and bewildered manchild."[18]In 2011,Total Filmsaid of the performance: "It's an early high point in Oldman's varied career that showed just what the young actor was made of. Playing the part of an icon known and beloved by many comes with its own demands and risks, but Oldman more than rises to the challenge, completely transforming into the troubled punk bassist." The magazine described Oldman's rendition of "My Way"as" fantastic – [it] might even be better than Sid's original version. "[19]In 2003,Rolling StonerankedSid and Nancyas the third-best rock movie ever made,[20]and in 2014,ShortListnamed it the ninth-greatest musicbiopicof all time.[21]

Not all reviews of the film were positive.Leslie Halliwellreiterated a line from a review that appeared inSight & Sound:"Relentlessly whingeing performances and a lengthy slide into drugs, degradation and death make this a solemnly off-putting moral tract."[22]

Andrew Schofieldwas ranked #1 inUncutmagazine's "10 Worst actors in rockin' roles", which described his performance asSex Pistolslead singer Johnny Rotten (real nameJohn Lydon) as a "short-arseScouseBleasdaleregular never once looking like he means it ".[18]Commentary on the CriterionDVDdismisses the film's portrayal of Lydon as wholly inaccurate.Paul SimononofThe Clashalso criticised the movie for portraying Lydon as "some sort of fat, bean-slurping idiot."[23]

Although not a box office success (generating $2,826,523 in the U.S. on a $4 million budget),Sid and Nancyhas become a cult hit;[21][24][25]Yahoo! Moviesdescribed the film as a "poignant and uncompromisingcult classic".[26]

John Lydon's reaction

[edit]

Lydon commented on the film in his 1994autobiography,Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs:

I cannot understand why anyone would want to put out a movie likeSid and Nancyand not bother to speak to me;Alex Cox,the director, didn't. He used as his point of reference – of all the people on this earth –Joe Strummer!That guttural singer fromThe Clash?What the fuck did he know about Sid and Nancy? That's probably all he could find, which was really scraping the bottom of the barrel. The only time Alex Cox made any approach toward me was when he sent thechap who was playing meover to New York where I was. This actor told me he wanted to talk about the script. During the two days he was there, he told me that the film had already been completed. The whole thing was a sham. It was a ploy to get my name used in connection with the film, in order to support it. To me this movie is the lowest form of life. I honestly believe that it celebrates heroin addiction. It definitely glorifies it at the end when that stupid taxi drives off into the sky. That's such nonsense... It was so off and ridiculous. It was absurd. Champagne and baked beans for breakfast? Sorry. I don't drink champagne. He didn't even speak like me. He had aScouseaccent. Worse, there's a slur implied in the movie that I was jealous of Nancy, which I find particularly loathsome. There is that implication that I feel was definitely put there. I guess that's Alex Cox showing his middle class twittery. It's all too glib, it's all too easy.[27]

Strummer claimed to have met with Alex Cox for the first time after the completion of the film, at a wrap party,[28]but this is not entirely accurate. The wrap party was the conclusion of the London phase of the filming, which was followed by filming in Los Angeles and New York City, performed by a largely different crew.[29]The pair's meeting involved discussion over soundtrack work for the film, not the film's script.

In a later interview, Lydon was asked the question, "Did the movie get anything right?" to which he replied: "Maybe the name Sid."[30]Cox's attitude toward his subjects was negative; one of the reasons he was attracted to the project was that he was afraid that if someone else made it, it would portray its subjects as "real exemplars of Punk, rather than sold-out traitors to it."[31]He acknowledged that Lydon's hatred of the movie was "understandable, given that it was based on incidents from his life and centred around one of his friends."[32]Lydon claimed that drummerPaul Cookwas more upset over the movie than he was, though the latter has not spoken publicly about it.[33]In a 1987 interview onThe Late Showwhen asked by interviewerElayne Booslerabout his thoughts on the movie, guitaristSteve Jonessaid: "For someone who didn't know anything about the Sex Pistols I guess it was a good way of describing it, but it's really hard for me to be judgemental of it because I was actually there at the time. I mean I didn’t like the guy who played me. […] The only thing I liked about it was the way they portrayed where and how drugs take you. That was the best thing I thought about the movie”.

In Cox's own, 2008, autobiography he refuted Lydon's claim about not meeting before the film, stating that they enjoyed a 90-minute, alcohol-fuelled, discussion about the script, who should play 'Johnny Rotten', and other aspects of production.[3]Cox stated that Andrew Schofield (who played Lydon in the film) also met with Lydon; and when Lydon noticed Schofield was aLiverpudlian,rather than a Londoner like himself, he encouraged Schofield to play the part as aScouser,which Cox took as a sign that they agreed it would be better to portray a more fictionalised version of the characters, rather than a strictly accurate re-telling of facts. Cox said he then offered the role to Schofield the following day. He suggested that Lydon's alcohol consumption at the meeting could explain why Lydon did not recall the event.[34]

Awards and nominations

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Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
BAFTA Awards Best Make-Up Art Peter Frampton Nominated [35]
Boston Society of Film Critics Best Actress Chloe Webb Won [36]
Evening Standard British Film Awards Most Promising Newcomer Gary Oldman Won
National Society of Film Critics Best Actress Chloe Webb Won [37]
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actress Nominated
São Paulo International Film Festival Critics Award Sid and Nancy Won [38]

Soundtrack

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The official soundtrack contains no songs by either theSex PistolsorSid Vicious.Much of the film's soundtrack (as opposed to soundtrack album) was composed byDan Wool(of Pray for Rain) andJoe Strummer,who was contractually limited to contribute only two songs. Strummer continued to contribute more (unpaid) work because of his interest in the project and composing for film in general. This additional material was credited to fictitious bands in the credits, so as to keep Strummer's label,Epic Records,from knowing what he had done. Another large portion of the music was composed byThe Pogues.

Song Artist
"Love Kills" (Title Track) Joe Strummer
"Haunted" The Pogues
"Pleasure and Pain" Steve Jones
"Chinese Choppers" Pray for Rain
"Love Kills" Circle Jerks
"Off the Boat" Pray for Rain
"Dum Dum Club" Joe Strummer
"Burning Room" Pray for Rain
"She Never Took No for an Answer" John Cale
"Junk" The Pogues
"I Wanna Be Your Dog" Gary Oldman
"My Way" Gary Oldman
"Taxi to Heaven" Pray for Rain

Home media

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Sid and Nancywas first released on DVD byThe Criterion Collectionin the late 1990s; this version has since gone out of print.[39]Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer(the video distributor of the catalog of Embassy Pictures, which released the film on VHS) released the film on DVD in 2000.[40]The Criterion Collection released the film onBlu-rayand DVD on 24 August 2017.[41]

References

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  1. ^"SID AND NANCY(18) ".British Board of Film Classification.28 May 1986.Retrieved20 July2015.
  2. ^"LOVE STORY BRINGS WARMTH TO VIOLENT 'SID & NANCY'".Chicago Tribune.7 November 1986.
  3. ^abcdef"13 Vicious Facts About Sid and Nancy".Mental Floss.31 August 2016.Retrieved1 August2024.
  4. ^Staunton, Terry (9 August 2016)."10 Things You Might Not Know About The Film Sid & Nancy".louder.Retrieved1 August2024.
  5. ^Von Tunzelmann, Alex (6 March 2013)."Sid and Nancy: an intriguing glimpse into a dysfunctional relationship".The Guardian.Retrieved16 May2017.
  6. ^Gary Oldman interview byTerry Gross.Fresh Air.National Public Radio.12 February 1998.
  7. ^Hochman, David (25 June 2014)."Playboy Interview: Gary Oldman".Playboy.Archived fromthe originalon 23 January 2015.Retrieved25 October2014.
  8. ^Hirschberg, Lynn (September 1992)."Strange Love".Vanity Fair.Archivedfrom the original on 15 December 2016.Retrieved20 September2020.
  9. ^"Courtney Love".Behind the Music.Viacom Media Networks. 21 June 2010.VH1.
  10. ^Robey, Tim (5 August 2016)."Love among the dumpsters: Alex Cox and Roger Deakins on the making of Sid & Nancy".The Telegraph.Archived fromthe originalon 20 September 2020.
  11. ^Thrills, Adrian (1990).Tears For Fears – The Seeds of Love.London: Virgin Books. p. 44.ISBN0-86369-329-6.
  12. ^Hafey, Lisa (3 August 2018)."Sid & Nancy Are a Romeo & Juliet Tale With a Twist in 30th Anniversary Re-Release".Essentially Pop.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.
  13. ^Sid & Nancy Movie Reviews, Pictures.Rotten Tomatoes
  14. ^Ebert, Roger(25 October 1986)."Sid & Nancy".Chicago Sun-Times.Retrieved22 December2016.
  15. ^Ebert, Roger(17 October 1986). "Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel".The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers.Season 1. Episode 7.Fox Network.Fox Entertainment Group.I tell you who definitely won't be [Oscar] nominated – and should be, and that's a young British actor named Gary Oldman, who plays Sid Vicious – the punk rocker – inSid and Nancy.And he's going to fall prey to theStar 80syndrome, which is whyEric Robertswasn't nominated [asPaul Snider]: Hollywood will not nominate an actor for portraying a creep, no matter how good the performance is.
  16. ^Ebert, Roger (1988)Roger Ebert's Four Star Movie Guide,Andrews & McMeel, p. 383.
  17. ^"Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time".Listology.14 March 2006.Retrieved27 October2015.
  18. ^abUncutmagazine,issue #117, February 2007
  19. ^Winning, Josh.Best Movies: The film chameleon's greatest moments.Total Film.11 April 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  20. ^"Movies that rock".Chicago Tribune.Tribune Publishing.12 November 2003.Retrieved10 October2014.
  21. ^ab"10 Best Music Biopics".ShortList.Retrieved10 October2014.
  22. ^Halliwell, Leslie (1995)Halliwell's Film Guide: 11th Edition,John Walker (ed.). HarperCollins. p. 1033.ISBN0-00-638460-9.
  23. ^"3am Interview: AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL SIMONON".3am Magazine.Retrieved27 October2015.
  24. ^Hanlon, Mary (6 April 2009)."The Chelsea Hotel on Film".The Brooklyn Rail.Retrieved10 October2014.
  25. ^Chloe Webb.OVGuide.Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  26. ^Gary Oldman – Biography.Yahoo! Movies.Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  27. ^John Lydon; Keith Zimmerman; Kent Zimmerman (1994).Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.Hodder & Staughton Ltd. pp. 150–151.ISBN978-0-312-42813-6.
  28. ^DEATH OF A PUNK – JOE STRUMMER (1952–2002) Clash co-founder dies of heart attack.hightimes.com (2003-01-02)
  29. ^Cox 2008,p. 98.
  30. ^Fine, Marshall.Rotten to the Core: An Interview With John Lydon.drdrew.com.
  31. ^Cox 2008,p. 78.
  32. ^"Sid & Nancy".AlexCox.com.Archived fromthe originalon 11 June 2011.Retrieved27 October2015.
  33. ^"Here's Johnny".Cut Magazine.Press Archives. Fodderstompf. November 1987.Retrieved27 October2015.
  34. ^Cox 2008,p. 89.
  35. ^"1987 BAFTA Film Make-Up Artist".British Academy of Film and Television Arts.Archivedfrom the original on 14 April 2013.Retrieved5 February2013.
  36. ^"Past Awards".Boston Society of Film Critics Awards.Archived fromthe originalon 3 August 2012.Retrieved7 March2012.
  37. ^"Past Awards".National Society of Film Critics.Archivedfrom the original on 23 March 2015.
  38. ^10ª Mostra Internacional de São Paulo.mostra.org
  39. ^Wissot, Lauren (2 February 2009)."Alex Cox's Sid & Nancy on Criterion".Slant Magazine.Retrieved12 May2017.
  40. ^Jawetz, Gil (19 December 2000)."Sid and Nancy".DVD Talk.Retrieved15 May2017.
  41. ^"Sid & Nancy (1986)".The Criterion Collection.Retrieved16 May2017.

Sources

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