I didn’t want to talk about it but I do now: Superstar Rod ready for a movie of his life and knows just the boy to play him
After Freddie, Elton, Judy, Barry, Maurice, and Robin, Rod Stewart’s tumultuous life could be hitting the big screen
Rod Stewart says he is ready to see a film made about his colourful life and career – and knows exactly who should play him.
The superstar singer, this year celebrating his 50th year as a solo star, wants to follow in the footsteps of Freddie Mercury, Elton John and Judy Garland, who have all had movies made about their lives.
The Bee Gees are the latest music legends to be given the big- screen treatment and Rod revealed he’s also been in talks about a biopic.
“I would love to have a film made and my two youngest sons, who are similar looking to me, to be offered to be in it, playing the young Rod.
“I have four sons and my nine-yearold really does look like me.
“I would love it and the film would have my full co- operation. There have been tiny moves towards it, but nothing concrete.” Dad- of- eight Rod is playing three nights in Glasgow’ s SSE Hydro this month and a date at Aberdeen’s new P& J Live arena in December. The dates are part of his biggest ever UK tour, which included football stadiums in the summer. While he has no plans to slow down anytime soon, he’ll be forced to lay low for a while after Christmas.
“In the New Year I need to have a total knee replacement. Playing football so much has caught up with me,” he revealed.
“I’ll have six weeks off in January going into February, and then I’ll start again. I have a big American tour planned with Blondie, and then I’m out to Australia and New Zealand, and then South America.
“I try to plan all my tours around the school holidays of my two youngest, so they can be with me because I really miss them. That was something I couldn’t do when my other kids were growing up.
“It was 1.30am before I got home from watching Celtic play in Rome on Thursday night, but I was up again at 6.30am to get the kids to school.”
Sir Rod admits he regrets not being there as much for his elder children as he is for 12- year- old Alastair and Aiden, nine, his two boys with third wife Penny Lancaster.
“I’ve spoken to them, especially my two oldest, Sean and Kimberly. We’ve sat down and talked about it and I told them I missed them, that I wasn’t out having parties but rather I was working because I was so in debt to the taxman at the time. I had to keep working to get myself out of debt.
“Now they understand but there was a point where they were saying the old cliché of ‘Dad, you weren’t here for me’, and I said I wasn’t, but I was working really hard and they know that now.”
Rod says his life is an open book and he recently spoke out about a secret battle with prostate cancer.
While playing a fundraising gig with his former Faces bandmates Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones in September, he told the audience he’d been battling the condition for three years and was only given the all-clear in July.
“I felt it would do more good to talk about it,” he explained.
“We have a show for Teenage Cancer Trust next week and I was going to wait until then before I talked about it, but this show was for prostate cancer, so I said to Ronnie, ‘I think I’ll tell everybody and get it off my chest and try to help others’. And he said, ‘go out and tell them and I’ll be right by your side’.
“So that’s what I did and it was a very emotional moment. My slogan was ‘a finger up the bum, no harm done’, meaning it’s totally painless to get
checked. It’s a mean old disease, with no symptoms whatsoever.
It creeps up on you and takes a lot of lives – it’s the second highest killer among men.”
Rod said the cancer treatment also left him feeling embarrassed, and so he wanted to set the record straight.
“When you have prostate cancer and need radiotherapy, you tend to put on a little bit of weight around your belly and I was becoming so self-conscious of it.
“It will disappear after a while, but with all the treatment the fat goes to your belly and it’s a weird experience.
I was becoming so self- conscious of it on stage and wanted to let people know.”
With 200 million albums sold and a successful Las Vegas residency, Rod is one of the most famous singers in the world, but he is still able to live a normal life. “It’s important to do so,” he said. “It’s quite remarkable – as long as I put a hat on, people will take a glance and say, ‘nah, it’s not him’. The minute
I take that hat off they all know who
I am – it’s the hair that’s recognised.
“I enjoy living my life and walking around the streets – I don’ t have security guards. Nine times out of 10, people are polite. “No one asks for autographs anymore, it’s all selfies. That’s OK, as long as I’m not having my dinner or trying to pay a bill in a shop.” Rod has a theory about why he and other acts from his generation, like The Rolling Stones, are still going strong. “We were the first. When Elvis broke through we were the youngsters listening to Muddy Waters and all the great soul and blues singers,” he said. “We had a head start on everyone, and now we have a tremendous catalogue of songs that people want to hear – they’re a part of musical history. “We have lots of age groups coming to the shows, but mostly people in their 50s and 60s. “I wish I was in that position, being able to go out and see Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, the guys I loved when I was a youngster. “When I came into this business at 19, I thought if this lasts until my 21st birthday it will be tremendous. “And here I still am – I still have to pinch myself.”
Rod Stewart, SSE Hydro, Glasgow, November 26, 28, 30, and P&J Live, Aberdeen, December 7