Former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle predicted the movie Street Survivors, about his experiences surrounding the band’s tragic devastating plane crash in 1977 would become a “cult classic.”
Artimus Pyle, the co-founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd was proud of the production that was premiered in Los Angeles on Feb. 16 at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, without his former bandmates’ approval.
Pyle announced the plans for the film last 2016, and led to a lawsuit from guitarist Gary Rossington and the estates of Ronnie Van Zant and Steve and Cassie Gaines, who died in the plane crash. The legal action resulted in a permanent injunction being put in place; which prevented him from proceeding: however, the decision was changed after appealing in 2018 and the final ruling was Pyle couldn’t be stopped from sharing the events of the tragedy from his own perspective.
“It was my story, and I didn’t realize it was going to be my story,” Pyle told The Metal Voice at the premiere. “I thought it was going to be more general, but it was basically focused on what happened to me.” Describing the results as “intense,” he added, “I think the movie is going to be a cult classic. … There is also humor and sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. That’s the way it was in the ‘60s and ‘70s.”
He said he was “disappointed” that his former bandmates “didn’t come with me to make a bigger movie, with a bigger budget.” “They chose to try to destroy me rather than come to the table and make a film together,” Pyle noted. “So this is what it turned out to be, and I’m very proud of it. I am proud of the director and … the cast. “
Keep going on the full interview below.