Jagger's movie petition up for auction

A petition signed by the Beatles and calling for Mick Jagger to star in classic film A Clockwork Orange is to go under the hammer.

The letter was signed by all four members of the Fab Four, as well as Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg, in 1968. It urges screenwriter Terry Southern to cast Rolling Stones frontman Jagger in the role of Alex in the film adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel.

The petition called on Southern to choose the singer over actor David Hemmings for the part – although in the end it went to Malcolm McDowell when director Stanley Kubrick later acquired the rights to the script and released his controversial big-screen version in 1971.

Auction house Paddle8 expects the letter to fetch between $18,000 and $25,000 by the time the bidding comes to an end on October 29.

It reads: “We, the undersigned, do hereby protest with extreme vehemence as well as shattered illusions (in you) the preference of David Hemmings above Mick Jagger in the role of Alex in A Clockwork Orange.”

Jagger originally bought the film rights from Anthony Burgess for $500 before selling them to producer Si Litvinoff. Jagger planned to portray Alex and have the rest of the Stones play his ‘Droogs’. Had his version been made, the Beatles would have performed the soundtrack.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.