Working Class Boy (film)

Working Class Boy
Theatrical film poster
Directed byMark Joffe
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • 23 August 2018 (2018-08-23)
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Working Class Boy is a 2018 Australian documentary film about the life of Jimmy Barnes, based on the 2016 memoir of the same name. The film looks on one of Australia's most legendary and iconic artists; his traumatic childhood, fuelled with domestic violence, poverty and alcoholism and his evolution from James Dixon Swan to Jimmy Barnes.[2]

The film also features musical performances with his children Mahalia Barnes and David Campbell, as well as his brother-in-law, Diesel.[3]

Barnes told news.com.au, "Everyone wanted to do a TV miniseries like Molly or Olivia Newton-John and I told them it is just not happening. I wanted it to be true to the book. We’re dealing with sensitive issues, sensitive to me, my family, my siblings, my friends and I didn’t want to glamorise it or play down the gravity of the violence of abuse."[4]

The film was released on 23 August 2018 in over 220 cinemas around Australia.[5] The special was broadcast on free-to-air television 6 weeks later on October 1, 2018, due to an early interest in the project by the Seven Network.[6]

  1. ^ "Working Class Boy". Village Cinema. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Jimmy Barnes Working Class Boy Is Heading To The Cinema". noise11. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  3. ^ "The Trailer For Jimmy Barnes' 'Working Class Boy' Movie Is Here". Music Feeds. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Jimmy Barnes shares first look at Working Class Boy film about his harrowing childhood". news.com.au. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Jimmy Barnes 'Working Class Boy' To Screen In Over 220 Cinemas". noise11. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  6. ^ Knox, David. "Airdate: Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy". TV Tonight. TV Tonight. Retrieved 2 October 2018.