DIRECTOR ON MAKING FILM ABOUT HIS HERO
me a living”, Gill delves into the elusive singer’s younger years as the awkward and misunderstood Steven Patrick Morrissey in 70s Stretford.
He said: “I was interested in who wrote those first Smiths albums and realised it was Steven.
“Once I started looking into Steven, I thought, ‘That’s a story I can tell’. I knew I could do a young man struggling to find his way in the world, because I’ve been there.
“It’s that artistic struggle to do something with your life, and how it’s always a fight to do anything you think is worthwhile.
“Sometimes you are born into a world you don’t feel you belong in, and you feel like you are drowning.
“As with any drowning person, you tend to grab hold of things – for Steven it was books, music and the strong women in his life.”
Raised half a mile away from where Morrissey, now 58, lived with his Irish family in Greater Manchester, Gill was sent to a posh grammar school by his parents.
He recalled: “Immediately I was exposed to new ways of thinking, which ostracised me from the young lads I was growing up with. I couldn’t see my classmates outside school.
“Then The Smiths arrived when I was 15 or 16 and I finally thought, ‘I’ve got someone’.”
But what will that special someone think of his on-screen portrayal?
Morrissey didn’t reply to Gill’s many messages.
The filmmaker said: “We’ve heard snippets of comments and we’ve been really respectful, making approaches before we started. He is surrounded by people so I don’t know if my letters got through, but I know they were sent and they were heartfelt.
“I imagine he is morbidly fascinated by the idea. It must be very strange having somebody make a film about your life, but this is also the guy who wrote the lyric, ‘I want to go down in celluloid history’, so we are giving him his wish.
“I am taking his silence as a shrewd move. If the film is a disaster, he can say, ‘Of course it was, because I wasn’t involved’. If it’s well-received, he can say, ‘Of course it’s good, because it’s about me’.”
Cinemagoers will meet teenage Steven as he starts to discover his talent for music and his passion for the written word – and follow him through family domestics and his grudging stints working for the Inland Revenue and in a hospital.
They will feel his pain and disappointment when his first band with Billy Duffy (now The Cult guitarist) crumbles and his inspirational friend Linder Sterling abandons him for an art opportunity in London.
The film ends just as he finds a kindred spirit in Johnny Marr, kicking off the relationship that would become the definitive rock band of the 80s.
It is not always an easy watch and neither Gill nor Lowden, who replaces his natural Scottish twang with a Mancunian accent, waste time making the audience feel at ease with the prickly protagonist.
Gill admitted: “You have to be honest and we all have characteristics that are not likeable.
“I wanted him to be a human being and that includes being arrogant, sometimes spiky with people, but also insecure, shy and vulnerable. You look at him and see a real person.”
Lowden, 27, who had no previous interest in Morrissey, found his temporary alter-ego more charming.
He said: “I find people who are struggling with the idea of themselves to be very honest people, and very endearing.
“I find him funny and I enjoyed playing with his physicality.
“I have since become a massive Smiths fan. My favourite song is Panic – it’s impressive that he gets both Dundee and Carlisle in.”
The opposite goes for Gill, whose 10-year passion project has now left him unable to listen to the hits of his teenage years any more.
He said: “It’s still too raw and I get quite emotional listening to it.”
But he still jokes that he cannot wait for a drunken night in watching the best audition bloopers.
Before falling in “love at first sight” with Lowden, who he describes as the best young actor around, he “saw a lot of people doing horrific Morrissey impressions”.
Gill added wryly: “I’ve still got the tapes.”
But he hopes fans and first-timers alike will be affected by the one-of-a-kind character that is Morrissey.
While giving nods to the influence of Oasis into the 90s and Radiohead into the noughties, in his words: “I can’t think of anyone else who has created that sort of cult around them like Morrissey has.
“People have tried but it has been embarrassing. He is a one-off and we’ll miss him when he’s gone.” ● England Is Mine is relea sed in cinemas on Friday.