For young actor Anson Boon, playing Johnny Rotten Danny Boyle’s Pistol is a dream come true. But what did punk teach him about himself?
at the National Theatre followed, before he was invited to audition for an “Untitled Danny Boyle Series” midway through the first Covid lockdown.
Boon and his castmates soon discovered that the idea that anyone can play punk is a myth. “I mean, the way John sings is not easy,” says Boon, who had no prior musical experience. But they all had a sense they were getting somewhere when Jordan , the model and muse credited with creating the punk look, dropped by the rehearsal rooms one afternoon and asked them to play for her..“That was like big nerves,” says Boon.
Boyle told each cast member that it was their job to know more about their character than anyone else, including him. So Boon spent every spare moment “running the John department” reading Lydon’s three memoirs, YouTubing all the Lydon interviews he could find , as well as all the concert footage. “He never stutters: that’s one thing I noticed about him early on. He’s such a wordsmith, so intelligent and quick-witted. He always says he spent a lot of time in the library growing up.