Machine Gun Kelly, who plays Tommy Lee in the upcoming Motley Crue biopic The Dirt, revealed the new level of appreciation he developed for the drummer during the project.

Based on the band’s 2001 memoir of the same name, The Dirt premieres March 22 on Netflix, with Vince Neil played by Daniel Webber, Nikki Sixx by Douglas Booth and Mick Mars by Iwan Rheon.

“My first emotion that I revert to isn’t happiness and I think his is, very much so,” Kelly said of Lee in a new interview with USA Today. “He’s excitable. Everything to him is cool and there’s something really beautiful about that. It never seemed like he was tainted by the ugliness around him.”

He added that it had been useful to have Lee nearby as they worked. “I definitely would ask him, ‘Was it like this?’ or ‘Did you really say this?’ And he’d always be like, ‘Yep,’" MGK recalled. "It was kind of wild seeing him be tripped out by the movie magic because he was like, ‘Dude, that is our house, man. That was the original Motley house. How’d you guys do that?’”

Kelly – whose real name is Colson Baker – also revealed the extent of his attempts to imitate Lee’s drumstick-spinning antics. “I had that damn drumstick in my hand for four months straight, dude,” he said. “I have giant calluses in between my middle finger and my index finger just spinning that damn stick. So I hope you enjoy the stick twirls in that movie.”

 

 

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