MÖTLEY CRÜE's TOMMY LEE On 'The Dirt' Movie: 'All Of Us Couldn't Be Happier' With How It Turned Out

February 4, 2021

MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee has once again praised the 2019 biopic "The Dirt", saying he and his bandmates "couldn't be happier" with how the movie turned out.

"The Dirt" premiered in March 2019. An adaptation of the book of the same name about the iconic rock band, it had been in the works since 2003. It was previously set up at Paramount and Focus Features before Netflix picked it up in 2017.

The movie charts the rise of four Californian youngsters who channel the punk rage of the 1970s into the so-called "hair metal" genre that defined the 1980s. Jeff Tremaine ("Bad Grandpa") directed.

During an appearance on a recent episode of the "Walking The Floor With Chris Shiflett" podcast, Lee stated about how "The Dirt" came out: "Dude, you know what? All of us couldn't be happier.

"It's funny, because when we were — not auditioning, but meeting with different directors… 'Cause that was really important: who is going to tell the story?" he explained. "Because we all know, and you've seen 'em, there's some pretty shitty rock movies out there. I won't mention any names… So that was the most crucial [part] — finding the right director. Who's gonna fucking tell the story, because this is an insane story to tell.

"So, we're meeting with directors, and Jeff Tremaine comes up. And we literally went into that meeting going, like, 'The guy from 'Jackass'? That directed the 'Jackass' [movies]?' We're, like, 'Look, this isn't a fucking comedy. This is not the guy.' That's how we went into the meeting.

"Nikki [Sixx, CRÜE bassist] and I went, and we met with him," Tommy added. "And come to find out, Jeff is a massiveMÖTLEY fan. He grew up in that time. He's, like, 'I'm the only fucking guy on this planet that can direct this movie. There is nobody else. I'm gonna take everybody back to that time period via th story and the phones and the cars and the clothes. I'm gonna bring people right back to that. I want people to experience it, especially for a lot of young people who never got to experience it, I'm gonna bring them there.' And we were, like, 'Wow. This is interesting.' And we were still super apprehensive, but, man, we made the right choice, because he did exactly that — from the casting and just all the details. And how in the world he smashed 20-something years into an hour and 40 minutes is beyond me. And have it make sense, 'cause it could have just ended up being just a bunch of crazy stories. But he made it work in an incredible way. And it's so true and raw and honest. He nailed it, man. We couldn't have been happier."

"The Dirt" currently has a 38% critic score from 72 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the online review aggregation service that allows both critics and the public to rate movies. The same site has an 94% audience score for "The Dirt" from more than 6,000 reviews.

Last year, Lee said that "The Dirt" sparked a renewed interest from younger fans who wanted to see MÖTLEY CRÜE live, contributing to the band's decision to renege on its infamous "cessation of touring" contract.

After vowing in 2015 never to play together again, CRÜE announced in December 2019 that they would be touring with fellow hard rock veterans DEF LEPPARD and POISON.

"The Stadium Tour" was originally scheduled to kick off last June and run through early September. The trek has since been pushed back to the summer of 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Find more on Motley crue
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).