Legendary British DJ and producer Pete Tong has joined the creative team of Netflix's upcoming EDM-themed film XOXO.
XOXO is about six strangers whose lives collide "in one frenetic, dream-chasing, hopelessly romantic night" at a choon filled festival. Its cast includes Modern Family's Sarah Hyland who plays Hayley Dunphy CSI: Cyber's Hayley Kiyoko and former Veronica Mars star Ryan Hansen.
Last year Tong wrote an article for Billboard magazine in which he lamented the fact that film-makers had yet to represent the electronic music scene in any recognisable way on the big screen.
"It frustrates me that we haven't made an impression in film and TV the way that genres like rock, hip-hop and R&B have," he wrote. "There's no shortage of award-winning documentaries or films scored by electronic producers -so where is the cinematic reflection of our culture?
"Where's our Saturday Night Fever? Where's our Empire? Where's our Do the Right Thing or Hustle & Flow? The challenge is on - we need to create an artistic legacy of which we can all be proud."
Of course there have been a few honourable exceptions. Doug Liman's superb, Go, was as close as Hollywood ever got to acknowledging the dance scene while last year's, Eden, made a valiant but ultimately limp attempt to capture the nascent energy of the French touch music scene that catapulted the likes of Daft Punk to worldwide fame.
However the timing of the new Netflix movie might be spot on, coming hot on the heels of news that a sequel to cult 90s flick, Human Traffic, is in the works. Regarded by most dance music fans as the definitive movie about the scene's glory days, it starred Danny Dyer in his first major role alongside Irish actress Lorraine Pilkington.
The mooted sequel will be written and directed by Justin Kerrigan, who made the original, and will see the gang living it large in Ibiza. Nice one bruva!
