Reel-ermania! Now get set for Rollers on the big screen
HE is one of Hollywood’s hottest rising stars.
And Luke Brandon Field wants his next big project to be a biopic of Scots band the Bay City Rollers.
Field, who appeared in Oscarwinning movie Jojo Rabbit, is ready to develop the project after talking to Rollers singer Les McKeown.
He will also rely on insider knowledge from his father, who worked for the band’s record label.
The actor and former model has already earmarked the role of the group’s guitarist, Eric Faulkner, for himself.
He says he has been a fan of the Rollers since childhood.
Field, 31, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I’ve spoken to Les about a movie about the Bay City Rollers and he loves the idea. People need to know they are one of the highest-selling bands worldwide and the story of their missing millions and about [band manager] Tam Paton. It’s such a great story and people don’t realise how many hits they had.
‘It’s an amazing story about how these five Scottish guys became the biggest stars in the world and what happened afterwards.’
Field’s father, the film producer Gary Shoefield, worked as an executive at Arista Records and with McKeown long after the band broke up in the 1980s.
Field believes Jude Law would be perfect to play a young Tam Paton, while Brian Cox would suit the part of the band’s manager in later life. But Field said he is still in the early stages of bringing the project to life. He said: ‘My dad worked in the music industry and has known Les for 40 years and looked after him for a bit in the early Noughties. The Bay City Rollers story is a really tragic story but a really great rock biopic. I would probably play Eric Faulkner.’
McKeown said: ‘I love the movie Jojo Rabbit and it would be awesome to work on a Bay City Rollers movie with Luke. He’s quite a character.’
The Edinburgh-based group shot to fame in the early 1970s with their youthful image and tartan-trimmed outfits. Hits such as Shang-a-Lang and Bye Bye Baby led to fan hysteria quickly nicknamed ‘Rollermania’.
But cracks began to show and in 1978 McKeown quit the band. The Rollers sold more than 120 million records before disbanding in 1987, briefly reforming as a trio in 2015.
For decades the band sought unpaid royalties believed to run into tens of millions, before settling for a fraction of what they were owed in 2016.