Baxter Dury: 'My dad was lovely, bubbly ... and annoying'
Some people seem to think that Ian Dury was a genius and others say he was evil. He wasn't evil – he was a normal dad who made me soup

Ian and Baxter Dury
五岁时的封面~~~~小时候是不是很可爱~~~
I was first approached about the film, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll,
in quite a roundabout way. Someone who knew someone who was working
with someone else got in touch and wanted to talk about a few ideas for a
biopic about my dad, Ian Dury.
I didn't really take it seriously until Paul Viragh, who wrote the
screenplay, got in touch. My sister, Jemima, and I could have decided
not to be involved, but they would have made the film anyway so at least
our involvement helped guide things.

It takes you a while to see whether a person's good intentions are
real, especially with something as personal as this, but I'm pleased to
say Paul and I became very good friends. He became more of a family
therapist than anything else. The result was a film which amalgamates
fantasy and fact. It had to be that way: if you tried to stick to just
the facts and keep it chronological the film would last 57 years. The
film represents a version of events that makes the experience of being
around my dad look anarchic and chaotic, but I actually had a stable
upbringing with my mum. We lived in a country house, she made apple pie –
it was a nice, middle-class upbringing. Even when I went to live with
my dad when I was older, I never felt as though I was in any danger. The
thing is that films of this kind tend to promote the extremes, by which
the perception of someone gets cemented. Some people seem to think that
my dad was a genius and others say he was evil. He wasn't evil, he was
annoying. But he was also a lovely, bubbly person, a normal dad who made
me soup. I'm used to the mythologising of my dad, so I found
other elements of the film much more powerful. For example, the
portrayal of my granddad (played by Ray Winstone) was strange, because I
hadn't experienced the part of his life shown in the film. In fact,
what you see is a character built around stories that we heard from my
dad. Bill Milner does a brilliant job of playing me, but it's
definitely weird to see yourself portrayed by an actor. When we met, we
both just sort of looked at our shoes and said "All right?". We talked
about my childhood, but I was conscious of not overloading him with my
memories. I've got nothing but praise for Andy Serkis (who plays Ian
Dury). My first impression was that he was too nice a person and had too
little ego to play my dad, but it really was an incredible
transformation. My involvement in the film was an absolute
pleasure, everyone who worked on Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
was wonderful. They all worked hard for not much money. But I have to
admit that I did have a few sleepless nights after I watched the film.
It's just not normal to watch your family on screen, is it? I wouldn't
suggest it to anyone. I worry that people think we were some kind of
rock'n'roll experiment, but we were just a normal, happy family. How
would I describe my dad? Someone made a brilliant analogy that I think
sums him up: he was like a beautifully made hotel, one side of which
looks over an idyllic beach while the other looks over the Gaza strip.