The Beatles Once Petitioned to Have Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger Star in 'A Clockwork Orange'

A fun piece of rock and film trivia has resurfaced as a petition signed by every member of The Beatles urging screenwriter Terry Southern to cast Rolling Stones' frontman Mick Jagger for the part of Alex in his cult-classic, A Clockwork Orange, is now up for auction.

Let's start from the beginning. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Jagger once bought the rights to Anthony Burgess' dystopian, ultraviolent novel, "A Clockwork Orange," for a mere $500 only to sell it to producer Si Litvinoff for a large profit. However, Jagger had a fascination with the book and had his own ideas for how the movie adaptation should look and sound.

Jagger wanted to star as Alex with the rest of The Rolling Stones as his "Droogs," and The Beatles agreed with this direction for the movie. In fact, The Beatles were so enthralled with the idea that they wanted to create the music for the movie.

At the time, David Hemmings, known for his work in Blow-Up and Deep Red, was set to star in the role.

"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 The Clockwork Orange," the typewritten letter reads. The letter was signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Marianne Faithfull, actress/ model Anita Pallenberg, who had relationships with Jagger and Keith Richards, and other signees, according to Billboard.

The Guardian reports that Litvinoff followed up the petition with a letter to potential Clockwork director, John Schlesinger. His letter read, "This film should break ground in its language, cinematic style and soundtrack. [And] the Beatles love the project."

Fans of the cult film know that most of that never came to fruition though. Stanley Kubrick wound up directing the movie and Malcolm McDowell starred as Alex in a landmark performance in cinema history.

The original petition goes up for auction on Paddle8 for an estimated selling price of $18,000-$25,000.

Watch the movies trailer below.

Tags

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger