‘Deadline Hollywood’ reports that a new documentary by the Mercury Studios titled Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd explores the enigmatic Barrett, who wrote Pink Floyd’s first two hits and even came up with the band’s name (a mashup of obscure blues players Pink Anderson and Floyd Council). In 1968, only a few years after the group’s founding, Barrett was forced out of Pink Floyd when his bandmates became alarmed about his mental stability and use of psychedelic drugs.
According to a press release, “Barrett dropped out of music, returning home to Cambridge for the last 30 years of his life and his first love of painting,” according to a release about the documentary. “Poignantly, some of Pink Floyd’s biggest worldwide hit records – Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall examine themes of madness and stardom including ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ and ‘Wish You Were Here,’ written as tributes to Barrett.”
Have You Got It Yet? was directed by award-winning filmmaker Roddy Bogawa and the late graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, co-founder of the firm Hipgnosis that created some of the most famed rock album covers of all time, including Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. Thorgerson had known Barrett going back to the 1960s.
The documentary features fresh interviews with Pink Floyd band members David Gilmour (Barrett’s childhood friend who joined Pink Floyd in 1967 and essentially filled the void left by Barrett), Nick Mason and Roger Waters, as well as Barrett’s sister Rosemary Breen, Pink Floyd managers Peter Jenner and Andrew King, The Who’s Pete Townshend, Blur’s Graham Coxon, and Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT, playwright Tom Stoppard, and others. Actor Jason Isaacs narrates the film. The film’s soundtrack includes over 50 Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett music tracks.
