‘Prime Suspect’ creator Lynda La Plante once had a disastrous meeting with David Bowie and Sir Mick Jagger where the rockers argued over their pitch for a murder mystery film.
Sir Mick Jagger and the late David Bowie planned to star in a murder mystery together.
The Rolling Stones frontman and his ‘Starman’ singer pal – who died of cancer in January 2016 – met with acclaimed writer Lynda La Plante to discuss their idea for a film but the idea quickly ran out of steam due to the “hungover” pair arguing over the plot and their characters.
In an extract from her new book ‘Getting Away with Murder’ obtained by the Daily Mirror newspaper, Lynda wrote: “Writers for TV rarely experience hits. Two hits are even rarer….yet with the double hit of ‘Widows’ and ‘Prime Suspect’, my phone was red-hot for the first time in my career.
“One call was from my then TV and film agent Duncan Heath’s office. “A message had come through my agent’s wife, Hilary, that Mick Jagger and David Bowie wanted to meet with me to discuss an upcoming movie project – a crime thriller, apparently. “A date was duly arranged and I trotted off to meet them in a central London hotel where they’d booked a suite for the day.”
Lynda had met neither of the rock stars before but they were “clearly hungover” when she arrived at the meeting and she was baffled by their flimsy pitch.
She recounted: ” ‘OK, well, let’s kick off. What kind of story are you looking for?’ I asked, sipping a morning coffee. ‘Well, we thought of… a murder mystery…’ Jagger piped up. ‘OK… a murder mystery… on the road?’ I enquired. ‘Yeah… on the road…’ he said, before turning to Bowie to double-check.
“‘What do you mean “on the road”?’ Bowie asked. ‘Well, as in a murder on the road – while a rock band is touring?’ I replied.
“‘Oh no, no, no,’ Bowie shook his head. ‘We didn’t want that. We wanted a murder on the Orient Express…’
“Suddenly, I could see Jagger frowning. ‘No, David… we decided against the Orient Express…’ he said under his breath to Bowie.
“‘Well, we thought it would make a great movie. Agatha Christie’s done it, hasn’t she?’ Bowie continued as if he hadn’t heard.
“I sat and smiled politely, but the truth was I could barely believe that this was their big idea.”
The ‘Prime Suspect’ creator then asked if the pair would be playing rock stars on the train.
She continued: “‘Oh no, no, no,’ Jagger frowned again. ‘We don’t want to play ourselves. We want to be characters…’
Lynda then faced another long period while the ‘Dancing in the Streets’ hitmakers argued about their potential roles before she “lost patience” and suggested they call again when they had a concrete idea.
She recalled: ” ‘Right,’ I said. After that, I sat for a good 15 minutes while Jagger and Bowie batted back and forth, trying to recall whatever plot they had discussed the previous evening under the influence of God knows what.
” ‘I could be the assassin!’ shouted Jagger at one point. ‘No, I wanted to be the assassin,’ Bowie replied. ‘OK, but if you’re the killer, who am I?’ Jagger shot back.
“In the end, I lost patience. It seemed pointless me even being there. ‘Look, you two. When you have an idea, call me. I’ll come back and talk then,’ I said. Needless to say, I never heard from either Jagger or Bowie again.”
Sir Mick Jagger and David Bowie planned murder mystery movie
