John Ridley doesn’t have time to worry about his silly feud with Steve McQueen in the wake of 12 Years a Slave winning Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 86th Academy Awards. His second feature film directorial effort is All is By My Side, which stars André Benjamin as Jimi Hendrix, and it will be shown at SXSW at some point after the music and film festival begins this Friday. While it’s just a guess, I have to assume that it’s significantly better than his directorial debut, the 1997 heist dud Cold Around the Heart, which starred David Caruso, Kelly Lynch and Stacey Dash. Seriously, watch this trailer. It’s incredible.
Two clips from All is By My Side hit the cat tubes yesterday and they feature Benjamin and Imogen Poots as Linda Keith in the early days of his career as he considers the direction of his career and the huge decisions that he faces. In the first, Chas Chandler talks the future rock god into heading to London with him, while the second reveals the budding relationship between Hendrix and Keith. Cue the hipster outrage over Benjamin’s portrayal of Hendrix in 3… 2…