After years of mining success from epic puking and things being shoved inside orifices, Jackass director Jeff Tremaine is moving on to doing more of that plus music by taking over the movie adaptation of Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt. A big-screen version has been in the works pretty much since the book was first released in 2001, then quickly became the standard by which all rock ’n’ roll excess would be measured and/or imitated with its candid stories of abusing drugs, women, and, in Tommy Lee’s case, the word “dude.” Now Tremaine has taken over what he tells Deadline has been a dream project of his ever since MTV Films first optioned it, with Tremaine obviously sparking to the story of another group of dudes doing really dumb, unhealthy things on their way to stardom. His patience paid off as Mötley Crüe managed to get the rights back from Paramount—where David Fincher almost directed a version, before deciding he only likes books with strong female characters—so it can now pass them on to Tremaine, along with the rights to use their songs.
Tremaine acknowledges of the band’s tales of debauchery, “Some of what they went through is funny, but overall this movie is not going to be a comedy. It’s pretty dark”—owing to the fact that Motley Crüe behaved like some real shitbags, and not in the fun, Jackass prank sort of way. With that in mind, the process now moves on to casting “actors who play, or who understand how to deliver the charisma it takes to be onstage,” as well the charisma it takes to be in a story that has them degrading and even raping groupies, then killing a guy, while still remaining oddly likeable. They should also be able to fake-sing “Dr. Feelgood.”