The Who Manager Kit Lambert Gets His Own Biopic

The Who’s manager Kit Lambert will be getting his own biopic, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Princess Bride and Bram Stoker’s Dracula actor Cary Elwes will make his directorial debut, with filmmakers hoping to begin shooting next spring. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will contribute biographical details to the script and music from the Who for the soundtrack. Pat Gilbert, a former editor of Mojo, wrote the screenplay based on interviews with the managers of the Yardbirds, Marc Bolan of T. Rex, Japan and Wham!

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Lambert got his start shooting documentaries, and discovered the Who when he and fellow filmmaker Chris Stamp set out to make a movie about an unknown pop band. The group they chose happened to be the Who, and they abandoned the film to manage the band together. (Stamp died last month at 70.) Townshend has credited Lambert with pushing him toward the intersection of rock music and theater that resulted in the Who’s acclaimed rock opera Tommy.

Lambert’s label with Stamp, Track Records, famously first signed Jimi Hendrix and released “Purple Haze” as its first single. Lambert died on April 7th, 1981. He was 45.