Hair metallers’ astonishing book picked up by company behind Moonrise Kingdom.

Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt, the depraved warts’n’all memoir of the LA band’s rise and fall, has made another step towards the big screen after being taken on by Focus Features. The company is seen as the “arthouse” division of NBCUniversal and is behind stylish flicks like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Theory of Everything.

Jackass director Jeff Tremaine is the name currently attached to the project, which has been in development for several years in connection with previous directors including David Fincher and Larry Charles.

The band members are co-producers on the film, and a search for actors “will begin shortly”, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Last year the band’s Tommy Lee attended a read-through of the script with Tremaine, and called it “the most fucking insanely surreal experience I’ve ever sat through.

“I sat through probably two hours and change of literally watching people act and play through this two-hour-plus movie of your… of 30 years of your life that went by in two hours, and I was just like, ‘What the fuck?! That’s insane. This movie is insane.’ Even just the way the movie starts, you’re like, ‘How the hell are we gonna rate this thing, triple R?'”

The film won’t include any big stars acting as the band members. “We’re going with all unknowns,” said Lee. “I think that’s crucial here, too. Getting known actors would not do anybody or the film or the band or any of that stuff justice.”