Movies

Jimmy Barnes revisits childhood ghosts in trailer for Working Class Boy documentary

''I was born James Dixon Swan, and this is the story of how I became Jimmy Barnes.''
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Aussie rock legend Jimmy Barnes found relief in penning his #1 best-selling autobiography Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy. And now the catharsis continues, as he prepares to watch the story of his harrowing childhood play out on the big screen in the documentary film of the same name.

After the major success of Barnes’ novel, Universal Pictures are releasing a documentary film of the same title and if the Working Class Boy trailer is anything to go by, it’s going to ignite all of the emotions.

WATCH the trailer above!

Jimmy Barnes has cemented a unique position in the hearts of Australians.

Directed by A Place To Call Home director, Mark Joffe, the film sets Barnes’ story (“I was born James Dixon Swan, and this is the story of how I became Jimmy Barnes”) against a backdrop of archival footage and interviews with family and friends.

“The extreme of the things [Jimmy] went through, I had no idea he went through that,” explains Barnes’ Cold Chisel bandmate Ian Moss in the trailer.

Working Class Boy details Barnes’ challenging childhood, the family violence, poverty and alcoholism, as he retraces his earliest steps through the hard streets of Glasgow and revisits his upbringing in South Australia.

“When I look back at my childhood, I wouldn’t tell anyone else to get to where I am doing what I did,” reveals the “Khe Sanh” singer.

Raw and emotional, the Aussie icon revisits his harrowing childhood in the documentary based on his autobiography.

Relief from the serious and dark themes addressed in the film comes from moments of dark humour, a reflection of the Aussie icon’s personality.

“I was born at home I in the kitchen and I weighed 14 pounds,” Barnes tells in the trailer.

“There was my mum at home, on her knees, screaming at the floor. And my granny’s walking around screaming at her. And then I came into the world screaming. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

The documentary film is set for a limited Australian release.

Working Class Boy premieres in Australian cinemas on August 23, for a limited time.

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