Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten is a 2007 documentary film directed by Julien Temple about Joe Strummer, the lead singer of the British punk rock band The Clash, that went on to win the British Independent Film Awards as Best British Documentary 2007. The film premiered 20 January 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. It was also shown at the Dublin Film Festival on 24 February 2007.

It was released in the United Kingdom on 18 May 2007 and in Australia on 31 August 2007. The film opened in limited release in the United States on 2 November 2007.

Cast

 * Brigitte Bardot – Herself (archive footage)
 * Michael Balzary (Flea) – Himself
 * Bono – Himself
 * Steve Buscemi – Himself
 * Terry Chimes – Himself
 * John Cooper Clarke – Himself
 * John Cusack – Himself
 * Peter Cushing – Winston Smith (archive footage)
 * Johnny Depp – Himself
 * Matt Dillon – Himself
 * Tymon Dogg – Himself (archive footage)
 * Joe Ely – Himself
 * Antony Genn – Himself
 * Bobby Gillespie – Himself
 * Alasdair Gillies – Himself
 * Iain Gillies – Himself
 * Bob Gruen – Himself
 * Topper Headon – Himself
 * Damien Hirst – Himself
 * Mick Jagger – Himself (archive footage)
 * Jim Jarmusch – Himself
 * Mick Jones – Himself
 * Steve Jones – Himself
 * Anthony Kiedis – Himself
 * Don Letts – Himself
 * Keith Levene – Himself
 * Courtney Love – Herself
 * Bernie Rhodes – Himself
 * David Lee Roth – Himself (archive footage)
 * Martin Scorsese – Himself
 * Joe Strummer – Himself

Special Thanks: Terence Dackombe

Critical reception
The film was well received by critics. As of 18 October 2009 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 61 reviews. On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 79 out of 100, based on 19 reviews.

Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle named it the 8th best film of 2007. Stephanie Zacharek of Salon named it the 9th best film of 2007.

Box office performance
As of 31 January 2008 box office takings totalled $US 1,108,740.

Awards

 * Nominated Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema – Documentary category at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
 * Winner of Best British Documentary at the 2007 British Independent Film Awards
 * Nominated Best Single Documentary at the 2008 Irish Film and Television Awards

Soundtrack
The official soundtrack was produced by Ian Neil, Julien Temple, and Alan Moloney. It is a mix of spoken word clips from interviews with Strummer and others, tracks from his various bands (including several rare or unreleased tracks by The Clash), and eclectic selections from other musicians that Strummer played on his BBC World radio show London Calling from 1999-2002 (some of which include his spoken introduction).