FORMER MC5 GUITARIST TO SCORE PUNK FILM?
Former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer has been tapped to supervise the music for the motion picture adaptation of Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's book Please Kill Me. That work, published by Grove Press last year and subtitled The Uncensored History of Punk, tells the tale of New York punk rock from 1965 to '82 through first person scenester accounts.
Although the film production is still in its infancy, Kramer says that he and other musicians may act in the piece, which is being produced by Rudy Langlais (Sugar Hill) and directed by Ted Demme (son of Jonathan). McNeil and McCain will write the script. Kramer will not only select songs to be used in the film, but also will score the project.
"We're in the middle of this really excruciating Hollywood process," said Kramer. "Meeting with studios, and talking about the story, and talking about the script, and talking about the money."
While Kramer acknowledged that there is also talk of a documentary film based on the book, the movie adaptation of Please Kill Me will be a drama.
"The story revolves around the Dee Dee Ramone story," he explains. "Here was a kid who went from hustling on 42nd Street to hearing bands and discovering that rock 'n' roll could be a way out. And his crazy girlfriend Connie [Connie Ramone, a.k.a. Connie Gripp] comes into the picture. Here's a strong willed, independent, tough-as-nails dope fiend woman, who turns tricks for the fun of it sometimes, just 'cause she's so willful. [The film explores] the stormy relationship that they had, and how the other bands influenced them--the pressures and influence of Iggy Pop, of Johnny Thunders--and what happens to the two of them."We're gonna try to get all the musicians around, who are intact, to act in the movie," added Kramer, "but not as themselves, as other people. For example,
I was thinking I'd like to play the role of [the record executive who signed a number of the New York punk bands]. I could play this scene in the book where [the record executive] is trying to seduce Dee Dee, both sexually and business-wise, to sign his band and get him in bed, while trying to get rid of the girlfriend by giving her money to go buy drugs...That sounds like a role I could play." Kramer laughed. He cautions fans not get their hopes up for a speedy film release: "In the movie business the wheels turn slow," Kramer noted.The paperback version of Please Kill Me is slated for summer publication.
Meanwhile, Citizen Wayne, Kramer's third solo album in as many years, will be released by Epitaph in May. Kramer also said he's hoping to have a second career scoring films. "I think it's the kind of work that I want to continue to explore," he says. "It's a good job for a grown up."