http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40727079As subjects for music biopics go, there can be few trickier than Morrissey, the idolised, enigmatic, prickly former frontman of The Smiths. However, that reputation did not deter an Oscar-nominated film-maker who grew up down the road from the singer.
Morrissey has a funny place in British culture - he's an aloof national treasure whose melodramatic croon and pithy pop poetry are burned into the hearts of millions, yet whose hallowed status has been somewhat eroded in recent years thanks to his outspoken online rants.
Despite all that, there are plenty of people who are wary of an attempt to tell his story in fictionalised form, who are fiercely protective of him and his band, and who see it as sacred ground.
"I just have to ignore them," says Mark Gill, who has directed and co-written England Is Mine, the movie about the singer's pre-fame years.
