MICK & MARTY TALK UP VINYL

Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese took the plastic wrap off their HBO series Vinyl at the annual winter PR fest for TV critics. During the presentation, the two icons took turns praising each other for their contributions to film and rock & roll.

Via satellite, Scorsese told the Pasadena assemblage that The Rolling Stones were the “inspiration for all the scenes in my films from Mean Streets to Raging Bull to even The Wolf of Wall Street. Even though I didn’t see The Rolling Stones perform until 1970, their songs were everything I imagined in my head.” Jagger countered with “He was the first film director to use rock & roll in movies from wall to wall. Other directors used it occasionally, but no really like he did.”

Vinyl, which premieres Feb. 14, is set in 1973, and stars Bobby Cannavale (pictured in preview) as a drug-addled record executive trying to save his record company. Naturally, he has destructive ways that affect everyone in his life. Fictional characters in the series are based on David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and other rockers of the era.

As for their roles in the production, Scorsese says he is involved “in all stages of production, selecting directors, working in the tonal meetings and, of course, selecting the music.” He directed the two-hour premiere.

Jagger, who had the idea for Vinyl as a movie in 1996, is using the Stones’ business dealings for portions of the plots—providing the story with elements of realism.

“We got really screwed in the ’60s, so I had to become involved,” he said, learning “who was good, who was bad, who paid who, who screwed who, who ended up in money.”