The Beatles Wanted Mick Jagger as the Lead in This Stanley Kubrick Classic Film
Rockstars appearing in movies is not rare, but they don’t often have leading roles. The Beatles had a few films starring themselves, such as A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, and accompanied by a stellar soundtrack. Mick Jagger also has a minor acting career, but he wanted to go big by starring in the lead role in a Stanley Kubrick classic, and The Beatles backed his ambitions.
The Beatles signed a letter saying Mick Jagger should play the lead in ‘A Clockwork Orange’
1971’s A Clockwork Orange was directed by Stanley Kubrick and starred Malcolm McDowell in the lead role. Based on a novel by Anthony Burgess, the film centers around Alex, a young, violent delinquent who is jailed and subjected to behavior modification techniques. He returns to the world, cured, but is punished by the victims he wronged in his past.
It’s a disturbing film that became a classic thanks to Kubrick’s uncompromising vision and McDowell’s haunting performance. In 2015, a document that went to auction shared by Collider showed the movie could have looked significantly different. The document was a petition by Mick Jagger sent to screenwriter Terry Southern. Southern wanted David Hemmings in the lead role, but the Rolling Stones singer had other ideas.
“Dear Mr. Southern, We, the undersigned, do hereby protest with extreme vehemence as well as shattered illusions (in you) the preference of David Hemmings above Mick Jagger in the role of Alex in The Clockwork Orange,’” Jagger wrote.
Jagger’s letter was backed by several of his friends and major stars, including all four members of The Beatles, Marianna Faithful, and Anita Pallenberg. Jagger had bought the film rights but sold them to Si Litvinoff, who later produced the film with Kubrick.
The idea for the film was that Mick Jagger would star as Alex, with The Beatles providing the soundtrack. They weren’t the only people who thought it was a good idea, as Litvinoff sent a letter to Midnight Cowboy director John Schlesinger that outlined why this would have been a fantastic idea.
“After you’ve read the script and novel, I’m sure you will see the incredible potential we all see in this project,” Litvinoff wrote. “This film should break ground in its language, cinematic style, and soundtrack. [And] The Beatles love the project.”
The Beatles wanted Stanley Kubrick to direct their adaptation of ‘Lord of the Rings’
Mick Jagger’s and The Beatles’ A Clockwork Orange wasn’t the only Kubrick project that went nowhere. The Beatles wanted to star in an adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The four members would have played four main characters and provided the backing soundtrack. However, the project was dead on arrival, as Tolkien had no interest in allowing rock stars to adapt his work.
In Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth, author Ian Nathan spoke with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. Jackson worked with Paul McCartney while working on The Beatles: Get Back documentary and asked him if their Middle Earth idea was real. Jackson said The Beatles knew precisely who they would have played and pitched the idea to Kubrick, who turned it down.
“Paul was going to play Frodo, George was going to play Gandalf, John was Gollum, and Ringo was Sam, I think,” Jackson said. “And he said that they all showed up at Stanley Kubrick’s house to try and persuade him to be the director. I would love to have been a fly on the wall for that.”
It’s hard to imagine The Beatles or Mick Jagger starring in any of these movies, and it’s possible for the best that they didn’t. Even though their movie careers might not have been what they wanted, they will forever be legends within the music industry.
