Julien Temple really gets the Kinks

Julien Temple, the director of Sex Pistols documentaries The Great Rock'n' Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury, is planning to shoot a feature film about Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks. To be titled You Really Got Me, the movie will focus on the "extraordinary love-hate relationship" between the brothers, which often resulted in legendary on-stage and off-stage spats. It will also examine the development of the band's sound, from the tough r'n'b of their mid 60s period, to their later fascination with music-hall and rock opera.

Speaking to ScreenDaily, Temple said: "Love/hate, sibling rivalry is at the core. I think it's a very rich social, cultural nexus around the Kinks. Their story is the untold story of all those big bands of the 1960s."

Temple is currently collaborating with Ray Davies to plan the film's approach before penning a screenplay, and does not yet have a cast in place. He says the actors will be required to play the Kinks' music: "I think you would want to have the music played by the actors ... that is believable and real while miming is problematic."

The Kinks formed in 1964, although the bandmembers had previously played together in various incarnations. The original lineup was Ray and Dave Davies, Pete Quaife and Mick Avory, but only the two brothers stayed with the band all the way through to their final break-up in 1996. The band were a success on both sides of the Atlantic, with You Really Got Me hitting the top 10 in both the US and the UK in 1964. All in all, the band had 14 top 20 UK singles and five top 10 US singles. They also inspired the likes of the Jam in the late 70s and Blur and Oasis in the mid-90s.

Temple has another couple of films in the pipeline. Documentaries Oil City Confidential, about the pub rock group Dr Feelgood, and Requiem for Detroit, about the travails of the motor city, are both seeking distribution. A non-theatrical 75-minute cut of the latter will be screened by the BBC in early January.