Why Australians hate Mick

Special from the Los Angeles Times
MELBOURNE, Australia - They'd just hanged Mick Jagger for the fifth time and, at last, director Tony Richardson was happy. "Break for tea," he yelled, as he picked up a mug and walked into the cobblestone courtyard of the dirty old Melbourne jail.
    Richardson is in Australia to make his first picture Down Under, "Ned Kelly." And Jagger, best known as the controversial head of the Rolling Stones, is his star.
    In Australia, Richardson and Jagger are not about to win any popularity contests. Richardson, whose early love affair with the British press turned sour when he banned them from seeing his "Charge of the Light Brigade," is fairing even worse with the Aussie journalists, whom he has barred from the set. He complained: "They're pestering the daylights out of me."
    With Jagger, however, the feud is much more personal. What it boils down to is this: Australia has only one real legendary hero to its name. "As game as Ned Kelly" is a much-heard phrase, a tribute to the young outlaw's bravery in these parts. And they're not about to have their hero portrayed by a "long-haired, pot-smoking twit." Jagger, as Kelly, is to the Australian as offensive as Davy Crockett played by Tiny Tim....

Source: Excerpt from The Los Angeles Times
Reproduced according to "Fair Use"