The long-gestating film of Mötley Crüe’s autobiography The Dirt has been picked up by Focus Features, the arthouse arm of NBC Universal, the Hollywood Reporter reveals. The book, which took the form of an oral history compiled by then Rolling Stone writer Neil Strauss, is one of the most acclaimed and extraordinary rock autobiographies ever written, largely because of its unending and astonishing catalogue of depravity.

The director whose name is attached to the project is Jeff Tremaine, director of the Jackass movies. He follows the likes of Larry Charles and David Fincher, who have previously been linked with the movie.

Mötley Crüe’s drummer Tommy Lee and bassist Nikki Sixx attended a script reading with Tremaine last year. “Can I tell you it was the most fucking insanely surreal experience I’ve ever sat through, y’know,” Lee said. “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?’”

Lee said the film would not feature big stars. “We’re going with all unknowns. 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. I think watching a well-known actor play Vince [Neil] or myself or Nikki or Mick [Mars] would be weird, because all of those other movies they’ve done would be attached to that character, and it would be real hard to remove those. There’s a lot of up-and-coming young actors that are fucking amazing, actually.”

In The Dirt, the band’s manager Doc McGhee said of his clients: “Mötley Crüe are savages with cash who care nothing about nobody, even each other.”