Malcom McLaren’s Son Joe Corré Preps ‘Wake Up Punk’ Feature Doc (EXCLUSIVE)

By Stewart Clarke

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s son Joe Corré has voiced his opposition to a Sex Pistols feature film in the works, and is about to launch his own project, “Wake Up Punk.” The feature documentary will follow events after his decision to burn punk memorabilia worth millions of pounds.

John Lydon has already tweeted that the “ Only Anarchists Are Pretty ” film about is not endorsed by the band. Corré has now questioned why the producers, Starlight Films, have not approached him or the family. McLaren, the Sex Pistols’ manager, and punk fashion icon Westwood will both feature in the movie. “No-one has spoken to me, Malcolm’s only child, nor have they spoken to , nor have they spoken to Malcolm’s elder brother, Stuart Edwards,” Corré said. “Whatever they’re making will be based on fantasy and fabrication.”

Corré’s own film will document the build-up to, and aftermath of, his decision to burn £5 million ($6.3 million) worth of memorabilia on the 40th anniversary of punk in late 2016. “Punk rock is a part of business as usual,” Corre said at the time. Objects including a unique acetate copy of the Sex Pistols’ 1976 single “Anarchy in the U.K.” went up in flames in a multi-stage process that included an event on a barge on the Thames during which effigies of prominent politicians were burnt.

Photographer, director and politician Nigel Askew produces and directs “Wake Up Punk.” The film takes in the process behind destroying the memorabilia and the condemnation Corré received for setting irreplaceable objects from music history alight. It also takes in his view that activism is the new punk, and that punk has been appropriated by the establishment and “become a marketing exercise to sell you something you don’t need.”

The destruction of the artifacts was followed by a 2018 exhibition, “Ash From Chaos,” held in London’s upmarket Mayfair district. It featured works made from the ashes of the memorabilia. These included a glass-encased coffin with a recreation of the death mask of McLaren.

“Wake Up Punk” will screen at Sheffield Doc/Fest in the U.K., and the producers are holding industry screenings in London.