Jagger junior takes lead role in upcoming 1970s rock 'n' roll drama

SIR Mick Jagger’s son James is to follow his famous dad into the music industry – but he won’t be recording albums any time soon.
Published: 00:01, Sun, December 28, 2014
By Mike Parker



Instead, James will play a swaggering young upstart determined to make it to the top in the music industry for a new television show.

The actor, 29, has been cast in an HBO drama the Rolling Stones singer is co-producing with director Martin Scorsese and writer Terence Winter, the pair behind hit series Boardwalk Empire.

The so-far-untitled drama is set in New York in the 1970s and will follow a record company executive trying to resurrect his flagging label by finding the next new sound.

US star Bobby Cannavale, Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire, will play the founder of American Century Records.

Emmy-winning Ray Romano, best known for US sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, will co-star as his tough head of promotions.

The series, which starts shooting soon, will be a big break for James, whose mother is model and actress Jerry Hall.

His character will be a “pushy, arrogant young son of a bitch”, according to a senior HBO executive, who added: “It is serendipitous that he will have his dad on hand if he needs any advice on the role and an era in which punk and disco were rivalling rock’n’ roll.”

Sir Mick’s behind-camera role, his 13th as a producer, follows this year’s critically acclaimed James Brown biopic Get On Up.

A source close to the Stones frontman said: “He is immensely proud of James.

“He did not actually propose him for the show but he was thrilled when James’s name came up.

"He feels he is perfect for the part in a no-holds-barred look at the music business in the 1970s.”

In that period, as the Stones produced a string of hits, Sir Mick was panned for his bid to branch out into acting with lead roles in Ned Kelly and Performance.

The source added: “He has always had slight regrets that it didn’t really happen for him but he is excited that James has picked up the acting mantle.”