Jimi Hendrix Biopic Criticised By Guitarist’s Ex-Girlfriend

Jimi Hendrix’s ex-girlfriend has criticised All Is By My Side, the forthcoming biopic of the iconic guitarist which will star André 3000 as Hendrix.

Kathy Etchingham, who is played by Hayley Atwell in the film, expressed her disappointment with the film’s costume department in particular. She has compared the clothes to those worn by Austin Powers, saying she “would not be seen dead” in some of the clothes worn by characters in the film. It is reported that Etchingham requested to be a consultant on the film but was rejected.

“I wrote them an email when I first heard about it [the film] saying, ‘If you want any help don’t hesitate to contact me’. They didn’t reply,” she says in an interview with the Sunday Express. “[The film’s costumes have] Austin Powers written all over [them]; I would not be seen dead in anything like that… Andre and Hayley are much older than Jimi and I were, and it shows… A lot of people will go and see it who have never read any of the biographies and they will think it’s the gospel truth. I don’t want it [the film] to fundamentally change history.”

All Is By My Side will not feature any songs recorded or composed by Hendrix himself, as the late guitarist’s estate declined permission. Instead, the film will see André 3000 perform songs by The Beatles and blues legend Muddy Waters that Hendrix himself covered in the ’60s.

The supporting cast includes Atwell, Imogen Poots, Burn Gorman and The White Queen’s Ashley Charles, who plays a young Keith Richards. Although All Is By My Side focuses on Hendrix’s period in England over 1966-7, director John Ridley shot the film in Wicklow, Ireland last summer (2012). A UK release date has yet to be announced.