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

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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 massive MÖTLEY 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.