BRITS MAY STAR AS MONKEES ON SILVER SCREEN
Hey, hey The Monkees are making a comeback--in a movie.
Film bosses have launched a talent search to find actors to play the
smash 60's band.
The new film will tell the story of how Brit Davy Jones and Americans
Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Mike Nesmith were picked to star in their
own TV show.
"Daydream Believers: The Story of the Monkees", will also tell how
they went on to become a real pop sensation.
Showbiz agents have been notified that "musical ability is a plus, but
not a necessity" for the stars of the movie--just as it was when they
cast the original Monkees.
TALENTS
With his cheeky grin, Micky Dolenz could easily be played by singer
Robbie Williams.
Blond mop top Peter Tork's role was made for Adam Rickett,
the former Coronation Street actor-turned-singer.
All Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker would have to do to play Mike Nesmith
is wear his trademark wooly hat.
And for Davy Jones--the heart throb of the band--there's Crow
Road star Joe McFadden, the ex-High Road actor who has shown his
vocal talents in the BBC series Sex, Chips, and Rock'n'Roll.
Warner Bros. and Rhino Records, who bought all the Monkees
recordings, 58 television episodes, and their movie, HEAD, in 1994,
are behind the new film.
A Rhino Spokesman said, "We are committed to the movie.
It will definately happen, although no date has been set."
The four original Monkees were chosen after more than 500 other
hopefuls had been auditioned, including rocker Stephen Stills.
Nesmith and Tork were musicians-- while Dolenz, a child star in
the popular tv series, Circus Boy-- and Jones were actors.
Jones had been a professional jockey and actor who had been
dividing his time between racetracks and the theatres in London.
A television pilot was shown in America in May, 1966, and the first
episode in September in the US and New Years Day, 1967, in the UK.
The first Monkee records featured the band's voices, but the music was
played by studio musicians.
The group shattered sales records set by Elvis Presley and the
Beatles.
They amassed a dozen Top 40 hits, including Last Train to
Clarkesville, I'm a Believer, and Daydream Believer, which all went
to number one in America.
In two years, they sold 16 million albums, and more than 7 million
singles.
But it all came to an end when the band's television series was cancelled
in 1968.
In 1986, the Monkees, minus Nesmith, reunited for an American tour,
and in 1997, all four regrouped to tour Britain.
Kirk White, who runs the Monkees British Fan Club, said, "Maybe
they'll give the original Monkees cameo parts."
Davy Jones, now *54, has just finished writing "Still Daydream
Believin'", an update of his autobiography, "They Made a Monkee Out
of Me". Michael
Nesmith, 57, was the heir to the Tippex fortune, and has no money
worries. Peter Tork, 53, still plays guitar for a new band,
Shoe Suede Blues Band.
Dolenz, 54, will be touring America later in the year as a part
of "Teen Idols"--another 60's revival, also starring Peter *Noone from
Herman's Hermits, and Bobby Sherman.
