A documentary about legendary Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, Have You Got It Yet?: The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, is receiving a North American theatrical release in late June. A newly unveiled official trailer can be seen below.
Directed by filmmaker Roddy Bogawa and the late album cover artist Storm Thorgerson, the feature-length documentary will detail Barrett’s life and time in Pink Floyd with unprecedented access. Classic band members David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Roger Waters were all interviewed for the film, as well as those who were closest to Barrett during his lifetime, such as original band managers Peter Jenner and Andrew King.
Barrett is a figure who has long been shrouded in mystery, guiding Pink Floyd in their early days as a creative leader and chief songwriter. The band’s 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is considered one of the greatest psychedelic records of all-time, though his mental struggles would lead to his early exit from the band, who went on to grander heights throughout the 1970s and beyond.
It was Thorgerson — who’d known Barrett since childhood and went on to design many of Floyd’s album sleeves — who felt that Barrett’s full story should be told following the singer’s passing in 2006.
“During Syd’s lifetime, Storm and the Floyd were fiercely protective of him,” remarked Robert Truman, founding partner of the film’s co-production house A Cat Called Rover. “Storm would refuse all interviews about him and tell me nothing of Syd’s life. After Syd’s death, Storm in discussion with Roddy Bogawa and Dan Abbott felt that he should make the film, having known Syd since school days, with Roddy directing. Storm knew everyone in Syd’s personal and professional life well and the film would be a kaleidoscope of impressions, a more accurate picture of Syd made from the sum of its varied parts.”
Added director Bogawa: “Was Syd just another drug casualty? Did he suffer from an undiagnosed mental condition? Or did he dislike the attention and fame as the fun turned to work? While there are no clear answers which might be the case, there is the feeling by all those around Syd that something went terribly wrong. Have You Got it Yet? is a chronicle and a mosaic of Barrett’s creative and destructive impulses, his captivating presence and absence — a portrait of the complex puzzle that was his life.”
Produced by Mercury Studios, Believe Media, and A Cat Called Rover, Have You Got It Yet? will premiere at Everyman King’s Cross in London on April 27th, 2023, with a May 15th theatrical release in the UK and a North American release to follow in late June. Visit the film’s website for more release details.
Below you can watch the trailer for the documentary and see the full movie poster.
