MICK MARS Says Actor Who Played Him In MÖTLEY CRÜE's 'The Dirt' Movie Pulled Off The Part 'Pretty Well'

MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars has praised the actor who played him in the 2019 biopic "The Dirt", saying "he pulled it off pretty well."

Iwan Rheon ("Game Of Thrones") plays Mars in the movie. "The Dirt" also stars Daniel Webber ("The Punisher") as singer Vince Neil, Douglas Booth as bassist Nikki Sixx and Machine Gun Kelly as drummer Tommy Lee.

Speaking to The Power Hour about the film, Mars said about Rheon's portrayal of him: "Yeah, he pulled it off pretty well. For how they wrote the script, he played my parts pretty close. Just mellow and just thinking more about the music than about anything else, really — all the incidents that my brothers got into, all that crap with Ozzy [Osbourne] and so on and all that."

Mick added: "The pool scene, I did, actually — I swear on my life — I was in my leathers, in the shade, under the umbrella. No sun for Mars."

"The Dirt" premiered in March 2019. An adaptation of the book of the same name about the iconic rock band, it had been in the works since 2003. It was previously set up at Paramount and Focus Features before Netflix picked it up in 2017.

The movie charts the rise of four Californian youngsters who channel the punk rage of the 1970s into the so-called "hair metal" genre that defined the 1980s. Jeff Tremaine ("Bad Grandpa") directed.

"The Dirt" currently has a 37% critic score from 75 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the online review aggregation service that allows both critics and the public to rate movies. The same site has an 94% audience score for "The Dirt" from more than 5,000 reviews.

In September 2020, Lee praised the actors who played him and his bandmates in "The Dirt", telling Noise11.com: "All the guys who played us in the movie did just a spectacular job — they really nailed each guy so well, it was mindblowing.

"I remember sitting there watching it with Nikki. While filming in New Orleans, watching the band rehearse, it was so bizarre to just sit there and basically watch yourself rehearse. We just looked at each other, like, 'God, this is fucking weird.' And then, of course, there's just endless moments of, 'Woah, this is bizarre.' Everybody did such a great job exactly nailing each guy really, really well where it would give you goosebumps, that kind of thing. Like, 'Wow, that guys moves exactly like Vince' — you know, Daniel. It's pretty crazy. Pretty wild, man."

Four years ago, Lee said that "The Dirt" sparked a renewed interest from younger fans who wanted to see MÖTLEY CRÜE live, contributing to the band's decision to renege on its infamous "cessation of touring" contract.

After vowing in 2015 never to play together again, CRÜE announced in December 2019 that they would be touring with fellow hard rock veterans DEF LEPPARD and POISON. The trek, originally scheduled for 2020, was delayed for two years due to the pandemic.

In April 2023, Mars filed a lawsuit against MÖTLEY CRÜE, alleging his longtime bandmates were trying to kick him out of the group and reduce his ownership stakes because of his illness.

Mars told the band in 2022 he would be unable to tour because of his ongoing battle with degenerative disease ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the spine joints and ligaments and can lead to stiffness over time, according to the National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases. The guitarist "just could no longer physically handle the rigors of the road," according to his lawsuit. But he said he would be able to perform with them in a "residency situation" and record with the band.

In response to Mick's decision to retire from the road, the lawsuit claimed, MÖTLEY CRÜE announced that Mars was "retiring" from the band and would be replaced by former ROB ZOMBIE and MARILYN MANSON guitarist John 5. Mars claimed he had no intention of retiring from the group, and accused Sixx of gaslighting Mars by alleging the guitarist had "some sort of cognitive dysfunction."

Mick's debut solo album, "The Other Side Of Mars", was released on February 23. The effort was made available via Mick's own label 1313, LLC, in partnership with MRI.