A new documentary about the late Anita Pallenberg, the longtime partner of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, will premiere in theaters on May 3, and will be available via video on demand starting the same day. Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg will present an in-depth portrait of the German-Italian model and actress, who was in a relationship with Richards from 1967 to 1980, and had three children with the rock legend.
Videos by American Songwriter
The film features Scarlett Johansen as the voice of Pallenberg, reading passages from Anita’s unpublished memoirs. The movie also includes commentary Richards and his two surviving children with Pallenberg, son Marlon and daughter Angela. A third child, a son named Tara, was born in 1976, but he died at the age of 10 weeks.
[Buy Rolling Stones Concert Tickets]
The documentary was co-directed by filmmakers Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill, who signed onto the project when Marlon Richards brought to them the idea of making a movie that profiled his mother’s life in all its complexity.
The directors worked closely with members of Pallenberg’s inner circle for three years to bring the project to fruition. The film also includes previously unseen home movies and family photographs.
Marlon Richards and Succession actor Fisher Stevens are among the executive producers of Catching Fire.
About the Catching Fire Trailer
You can check out a trailer for Catching Fire now at the Magnolia Pictures YouTube channel.
The promo features Johansen as Pallenberg, saying, “I’ve been called a witch, a slut, and a murderer. Maybe people confuse me with the characters I’ve played.”
Later in the trailer, we hear a clip of Keith Richards reflecting on his romance with Pallenberg, and how she inspired some of the songs he wrote for The Rolling Stones.
“I was bursting in love,” he says. “Anita is in a lot of those songs. She’s a muse, I’m sure, and not just for me.”
The trailer also hints at some of the drug and legal issues the couple dealt with while they were together.
Super model Kate Moss also appears in the trailer, commenting, “She was everything you want a rock star to be. For me, everything you want a woman to be.”
Near the end of the promo, we hear Keith say, “Basically, I was trying to keep up with her mess. And the most of the time it was fun.”
We then here Johansen again as Pallenberg say, “My motto was, ‘Forward, forward, forward. Never look back.’”
More About Pallenberg
Pallenberg died in 2017 at age 75 from complication of hepatitis C. Prior to her romance with Richards, she been in a relationship with Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones from 1965 to 1967. As an actress, she appeared in the surreal 1970 crime drama Performance, which co-starred Mick Jagger, and the risqué 1968 sci-fi flick Barbarella.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
