The spelling of his name was as distinctive as he was.
“It’s J-I-M-I?” a character in “Jimi: All Is by My Side,” the new Jimi Hendrix biopic, asks the musician (played by OutKast’s Andre Benjamin), in a new trailer available exclusively on TODAY.com.
“Yeah, yeah, I like it that way,” replies Benjamin as Hendrix, with a musical lilt to his voice.
The unusual spelling was accepted, but not everything else about Hendrix was. “You’ve never been nothin’ to them but a curiosity,” he’s told in one scene. But when he takes the stage, things change.
“Watch out for your ears!” Hendrix yells to the audience as he fires up his guitar, later explaining, “I want my music to go inside the soul of a person.”
A London reporter circa 1966 poses a question to the Seattle-born musician. “There’s so much competition right now,” she challenges him. “Queen, The Who … do you think you’re better than all of them?”
Hendrix doesn’t answer, but the trailer fades out on his music and Benjamin’s confident smile, making his opinion pretty clear.
“Jimi: All Is by My Side” opens in theaters on Sept. 26. Hayley Atwell, Burn Gorman and Imogen Poots also star.