Morrissey the movie is ready to premiere
STORY OF THE SMITHS SINGER ‘ENGLAND IS MINE’ TO BE SCREENED AT EDINBURGH FILM FESTIVAL
THE much-anticipated Morrissey biopic telling the story of The Smiths singer’s early life will have its premiere this summer.
England Is Mine, named after a lyric in the band’s song Still Ill, will have its first public screening on the closing night of Edinburgh International Film Festival on July 2.
The festival’s artistic director Mark Adams said: “Morrissey is definitively one of Britain’s most iconic artists, and we are delighted to be exploring the enigma of his incredible life story on closing night with the world premiere of England is Mine.”
The feature-length film, which has not been authorised by Morrissey, explores the singer’s formative years in 1970s Manchester and culminates in his first meeting with guitarist Johnny Marr.
It stars War and Peace actor Jack Lowden as the ‘introverted, uncompromising’ young Steven Patrick Morrissey, alongside Laurie Kynaston as Marr. Downton Abbey star Jessica Brown Findlay also appears as artist Linder Sterling, who encourages Morrissey to follow his dreams of stardom, along with Peaky Blinders actress Simone Kirby, who plays the singer’s mother, Elizabeth. The film, produced by Manchester’s Honlodge Productions, is directed by Oscar nominee Mark Gill and produced by Baldwin Li and Orian Williams, who also worked on Ian Curtis biopic Control. Scenes were filmed in Chorlton and Stretford, not far from Morrissey’s childhood home in Davyhulme, last year. Gill said at the time: “The film covers Morrissey’s life pre-Smiths and is more of a portrait than a conventional biopic. “It’s as much a film for non-Morrissey fans as it is for die-hard devotees, but I can’t deny that this is a love letter to Steven Patrick Morrissey and the dark satanic mills of Manchester.” A general release date has yet to be confirmed for the film. Tickets to the Edinburgh screening at Festival Theatre are on sale from edfilmfest.org.