Keith Richards held a sword to Julien Temple’s throat the first time they met.
Temple has made new documentary ‘Keith Richards: The Origin Of The Species’ about The Rolling Stones guitarist’s childhood growing up in Kent, England, in the aftermath of World War II.
The 63-year-old filmmaker was first introduced to the 72-year-old rocker in 1983 when he directed the video for The Rolling Stones song ‘Undercover Of The Night’.
Temple recalls meeting up with Richards to discuss the promo which was being filmed in Mexico, but the hellraiser was unimpressed with his part in the video – which featured singer Sir Mick Jagger as a detective on the trail of a man kidnapped by a gang led by Richards – so pulled out the blade.
Speaking to NME, Temple spilled: "I met Keith in the toilets underneath the George V hotel in Paris. He had a sword stick straight to my neck, because he wasn’t in the ‘Undercover Of The Night’ video enough, I believe. I think he was just being Keith."
The resulting music video was deemed too violent to be shown by MTV, and even the edited version was only screened after 9pm.
The uncut version was finally released on The Rolling Stones’ video compilation ‘Video Rewind’ which came out in 1984.
Temple is famous for his rock ‘n’ roll films such as 1979’s ‘The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle’ about punk band The Sex Pistols and 1986’s David Bowie starring ‘Absolute Beginners’.
‘Keith Richards: The Origin Of The Species’ airs at 9pm on BBC Two on Saturday July 23.
Keith Richards pulled sword on Julien Temple
