Stoned (2005)

A chronicle of the sordid life and suspicious death of Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones, who was found in the bottom of his swimming pool weeks after being let go from the band.

Director:

Stephen Woolley

Writers:

Neal Purvis, Robert Wade

Stars:

Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine, David Morrissey

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leo Gregory	...	Brian Jones
Paddy Considine	...	Frank Thorogood
David Morrissey	...	Tom Keylock
Ben Whishaw	...	Keith Richards
Tuva Novotny	...	Anna Wohlin
Amelia Warner	...	Janet
Monet Mazur	...	Anita Pallenberg
Luke de Woolfson	...	Mick Jagger
David Walliams	...	Accountant
David Williams	...	Speecy
Gary Love	...	Jeff
Johnny Shannon	...	Landlord
Melanie Ramsay	...	Mrs. Thorogood
Rüdiger Rudolph	...	Volker
Will Adamsdale	...	Andrew Loog-Oldham

Storyline

Fact-based story about the drug-addled and sordid life of The Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones. Unfortunately the story moves so quickly into the sensationalized decadence and drug-induced state of Jones, that the unknowing viewer has to wonder why anyone would care. There are only a few framing sequences with members of The Stones, particularly Keith Richards, that show they had a great respect for him and tried to bring him back into the band as he drifted away. Mixed into the destruction of Jones is a common builder, Frank Thorogood, who is given the unenviable task of trying to please Jones by rebuilding his estate and to watch him per Jones' manager's instructions. Thorogood's life is so far removed from all of the sex and drugs that he sees, that he envies and desires the tawdry life as well, but never quite fits in. Unfortunately, at least according to this film and according to a supposed death bed confessional of Thorogood in 1993, it led to Thorogood's murder of Jones in a...

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Plot Keywords:

swimming | swimming pool | pubic hair | pantyhose | reference to brian jones | 

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Taglines:

the wild and wicked world of Brian Jones

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for drug use, sexuality, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Intandem Films [UK]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 November 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Stoned - A História Secreta dos Rolling Stones

Filming Locations:

Battersea Park, Battersea, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Number 9 Films,Finola Dwyer Productions,Scala Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

A scene dated 1959 shows a Robert Johnson album with his photograph on the cover. This is doubly impossible. No Robert Johnson albums existed anywhere until 1961, and it wasn't until about 1969 that any photograph of him at all had been discovered.

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Quotes

Brian Jones: Thanks for making a marytr of me. If it wasn't for you i'd still be alive and, no one would care.
Tom Keylock: You know that isn't true. It was you screwing with Frank's head what did it, because you had nothing better to do. But you did know her...
Brian Jones: Anita.
Tom Keylock: You just had to go and screw it up, didn't ya? Your problem is, you were never happy - even Frank was happy.
Brian Jones: You're wrong you know Tom. I was happy, somewhere in the middle there. The thing with happiness was... It was boring.

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Connections

References Blow-Up (1966)

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Soundtracks

Paper Sun
Composed by Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi
Performed by Traffic

User Reviews

Got this one out on Cheap Tuesday. Fortunately.

No, one should not expect a fictionalization of the Stones' story, but one does expect a reasonable attempt at a depiction of Brian Jones' time with them. As it is, the Stones are peripheral characters in the screenplay. Apart from a few bluesy jams, their own music is absent entirely. The story focuses on the relationships between Jones and his foreman/com-padre Frank Thorogood, out at the rock star's country estate. The large house is conspicuously the movie's prime set. Fine, 'Stoned' had a low budget. Then again, it's from a real-life story which was basically made up of people talking, fighting and falling over. Not so fine is that 'Stoned' had to be so bad. One of the hardest things to swallow about 'Stoned' was the casting of Leo Gregory as Jones. He does little characterization beyond a 'fatalistic' smile, and although 27 years old himself (Jones' age at the time of his death), on screen he looks ten years older and wears a risible array of mail-order hairpieces to represent the varying Jones eras. At times he looks like a young Jon Pertwee in a fright wig. The direction by Stephen Wooley is wildly erratic and at times laughable. Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit' underscoring an acid trip scene is the hack cinematic equivalent of the 'city/pretty' hack songwriting rhyme. It took Wooley ten years to put this botch-up together? Looks more like it was desperately cobbled together late Sunday night and breathlessly handed in by the Monday 9AM deadline. Another Bad Movie Night contender.