Alan G Parker has revealed he’ll follow his Status Quo and Kiss films with a feature on David Essex – and it’s a dream come true for the director.
Essex, who’s always resisted the idea of a documentary movie, agreed to let Parker and producer Alexa Morris start work on the project after seeing Hello Quo! earlier this year.
They’ve already lined up Jeff Wayne, Andy Scott, Jim Lea, Mike Batt and Sir Tim Rice for the project, tentatively entitled The David Essex Story, with more names to be added in due course.
Essex released his first single in 1965, aged 17, and played the lead role in musical Godspell six years later. In 1973 he led the stage version of The Who’s Tommy then starred in the movie That’ll Be The Day, returning for 1974 sequel Stardust. He played the Artilleryman in Wayne’s 1978 The War Of The Worlds concept album. As a solo performer he’s achieved 19 top 40 hit singles and 16 top 40 albums.
Parker tells TeamRock: “The idea has been on the cards since 2010, but it finally came about when David watched Hello Quo! and told me, ‘I can confess to not being the biggest fan of that kind of thing – but that was great. You told the story very well.’”
The movie maker has been a fan since childhood, and his first tattoo, a small star on his shoulder, was inspired when he saw the singer and actor sporting the same device as he performed Silver Dream Machine on Top Of The Pops in 1980.
Parker says: “I just felt it was the essence of cool. I love That’ll Be The Day and Stardust as much as I love The Sweeney movies or Slade In Flame. David went through a phase of wearing only motorbike boots with everything, even a dinner suit – thus, so did I!”
The David Essex Story commences production at the end of the month and it’s set for release in London cinemas, on TV and DVD next year. Parker’s Kiss movie, You Wanted The Best You Got The Best, will also appear in 2015.
