When Cecil Beaton Shot Mick Jagger
Originally commissioned in 1968 by the film producer Sandy Lieberson, Beaton’s photos of Mick were taken on the set of the louche Swinging Sixties gangster film, “Performance,” in which Mick Jagger made his film debut opposite James Fox. Warner Bros executives had given the directors Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg a remarkably free hand during the making of the film, but were shocked by the results, branding the graphic scenes of sex, violence and drug taking “disgusting”. There were rumours that Jagger and Pallenberg, who was then in a relationship with, had actual sex on the set.
