This is clear from Strange Game, the grumpy themed song he recorded for the six-part adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses novel. The series is about a group of embarrassed terrorists who are demoted to a malicious office hidden behind the Barbican. Jagger mocks these rejections of the song, calling them “lost, unsuitable and lovers” before announcing: “You’re done, you’re stupid, you failed.” Their boss is a bitter, flattering old bully played by Gary Oldman. “It’s a bit written from his own point of view,” the singer explains. “I thought I would do something for him and his frustration with his crew. You know, “Surrounded by losers” blah-blah-blah. But I also tried to point out that everyone wants to be redeemed. “They have this ambition to do good in some way and to prove that they have no value.” Wicked Wild… Jagger in Nic Roeg’s 1970 film Performance. Photo: 44 / Goodtimes Enterprises / Allstar The Strange Game was written remotely by Jagger and composer Daniel Pemberton, who have not yet met in person. “What’s unbelievable is how much Mick carries and distills the mood of the book,” says Pemberton. “It’s hard to do that, but it hit the park right away. We were expecting to get a nice song that may have nothing to do with the story, but it immediately sets up this world. In terms of sound, he has this amazing mastery in his voice. The turns that appear outside the cuff are all extremely controlled. It is like working with a valuable material that is in limited supply “. The miserable mood of lo-fi production is reinforced by Jagger’s camp, which mocks tradition: whispers one minute, whispers the next. “Daniel liked the polyglot,” he recalls. “But I said, ‘You can not let me say too many words,’ so I put in a few oh-oh’s and things to give it that slightly eerie atmosphere.” I begin to ask if I can take him half a century back to another of his specially written compositions, but he interrupts me before I can finish the question: “Please do not do it,” he says, a theatrical tremor in his voice. Then he continues in a tone of parody-indignation: “Half a century? Half a century to what? In Turner’s song Memo, that electric eel that spins to a number, which he shares in the middle of the 1970 movie Performance – Jagger’s favorite cult in which a disgraced rock star hides in his Notting Hill with a gangster played by James Fox. Beauty, androgynous – is so weird, so sexual and beautiful How did Strange Game writing compare? “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, expressing the word in such a way that implies that he considers the research rather false. “This was a song that went into a movie, so it’s not really comparable. As far as the story is concerned, I guess it has some vague similarities, but it’s not the same kind of concert at all. ” How does he feel now about his performance in Performance? “Blimey, it’s so long ago I can not remember! It was hard work and I had never made a movie before, so I was really learning and I did not know what I was doing. I had to be quite focused on doing it right. It’s a weird movie in a way. But in certain ways it endures. ” Perhaps his modesty forbids him from calling it a masterpiece, which it certainly is, or from acknowledging that it brings to the screen its most slyly savage qualities. His latest movie? Or with Claes Bang at The Burnt Orange Heresy. Photo: Rumble Films / Jose Haro / Allstar Following the Performance with an eccentric twist as the infamous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, Jagger expressed a desire to become a “character actor”. He understands the idea now. “I said that? The thing is, you did not have many offers in those days. It’s a lot easier today for music people to get movie parts. Once upon a time there was a lot of prejudice against people in the music industry – it was like they could only do that one thing, and it was just casting that they offered you. “Do actors and singers tend to share a set of skills?” There are similarities and intersections. “I did, I always liked it. But just because you’re on stage entertaining 50,000 people, does not necessarily mean that you will become a very good actor.” And yet it is. Director Sean Mathias discovered so much when he did Jagger alongside Clive Owen and Ian McKellen in the 1997 film Bent, Martin Sherman’s work on the persecution of gay men under Nazism. Jagger plays a small role as Greta, mocking the streets of Philip Glass in Berlin while sitting at the top of a table in a black sheer dress, curly wig and earrings. If stealing a movie was a crime, he would have a life without suspension. “The show is the reason I thought of Mick for Greta,” says Matthias. “It’s his presence, isn’t it? The beauty, the androgynous. He is so weird, so sexual and beautiful. A little animal. He has the face of a much older person but the thin body of a teenager. It has this enviable metabolism. He was still with Jerry Hall at the time and told me, “Jerry wants to kill me. “I can eat whatever I like, while she only has to look at one chip and gain weight.” Mathias remembers Jagger as “a collaborating member of the company. He had an environment but never abused his power. He has an amazing mind. He is interested in a huge range of topics and can talk about all of them. And he’s incredibly fun at dinner – he has a lot of humor for camping. “ ‘A bit of an animal’… Jagger as Greta in Sean Mathias’s Bent. Photo: Channel Four Films / Allstar Delays in one of the film’s nightly shoots pushed Jagger’s scenes back into the early hours of the morning. I had to go to his caravan and say, ‘Mick, sorry but we’re late.’ It was about four in the morning, he looked quite old and tired, and he looked at himself in the mirror and said, ‘Oh, look at this person. It is miserable. “You can not shoot me now!” I remember saying, “Oh Mick, you look absolutely fantastic.” I thought, “I’m so fake!” Because he looked very tired. “But I knew that if I succumbed to his ego, I would sink in and I would never shoot him.” Since he plays so rarely, what kind of role is likely to be appealing? “What triggers something inside you,” says Jagger. “If it makes you think, ‘I can take this character and bring him to life.’ I can make it interesting or fun. ” You do not want to play with yourself or too close to yourself. I rejected it. “ He never made the film career that his friend David Bowie did. Again, it was not Bowie’s solo entity: he had the old ball and chain to carry, or the Rolling Stones as they are known. In the mid-1990s, Jagger came up with the idea for a concert comedy film that would cross the band live footage with script scenes showing two loyal Stones fans, played by Brad Pitt and Ben Stiller, scoring their idols at any cost. . Jagger brought Stiller and Judd Apatow to present the film at a meeting of the band. In Apatow’s narrative, Keith Richards was the obstacle. Whenever Ronnie Wood expressed excitement about making the film, Apatow said, Richards would drop him: “And you, Alfred Itchcock?” About five years ago, Jagger made it known to the industry that he was looking for a “last” movie release. He got his wish with the small but memorable role of a millionaire art collector with a gruesome agenda in The Burnt Orange Heresy, a sly, slippery thriller shot on Lake Como. How did it feel to be back in acting? “Well, it was a little weird to be honest,” Jagger says. “I have not done anything for many years. I was like, “Oh. Εμ. Yes. Acting. Let’s think now. How do we do that? ‘ I once asked Jack Nicholson, “When you build a character, where do you start?” He said, “His sex life.” It produces a fun little snoring. Mapping a character’s background usually helped. “It may not necessarily fit the script, but it’s good to have it. Otherwise you are just saying the lines. And you do not want to just say the lines. Well, you can, but it’s better if you know what kind of person he is. I took notes on whether the guy was married, how his school was. Was he a scammer? Did he like rugby? The usual things. “Everything is very funny, but if you are going to do a job, you may well do it right.” “Did I really say I wanted to be a character actor?” Or to Ned Kelly. Photo: Wood / Allstar The film’s director Giuseppe Capotondi can confirm this. “Mick really did his job,” he tells me. He said: “Maybe the character should speak in a Chelsea accent, but from the days before Chelsea became chic, when it was still working class.” It all came from him. He also talked to some of the gallery owner’s friends to understand how the market works. “ A scene in which Jagger changes from polite to intimidating in just one line suggests that he would be natural to Pinder. “That’s very good, isn’t it?” agrees Capotondi. “He managed to change his tone there, while he was sitting and smoking his electronic cigarette. It is very effective. Mick can carry …
