"They know him - and they shiver - the big names of Broadway, Hollywood and Capitol Hill. They know J.J.- the world-famed columnist whose gossip is gospel to sixty million readers! They know the venom that flickers in those eyes behind the glasses - and they fawn - like Sid Falco, the kid who wanted "in" so much, he'd sell out his own girl to stand up there with J.J., sucking in the sweet smell of success! This is J.J.'s story - but not the way he would have liked it told!"

"The Motion Picture That Will Never Be Forgiven... Or Forgotten!"

"This is the story of J.J. - But not the way he wants it told!"

"Tell me, sir: when he dies, do you think he'll go to the dog-and-cat heaven?"

"The next time you want information, don't scratch for it like a dog, ask for it like a man!"

"I'd rather be dead than living with you. For all the things you've done, J.J., I know I should hate you. But I don't. I pity you."

"Sidney, this syrup you're giving out with... you pour over waffles, not J. J. Hunsecker."

"You sound happy, Sidney. Why should you be happy when I'm not?"

"Don't remove the gangplank, Sidney - you may wanna get back on board."

"I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic."

"Son, I don't relish shooting a mosquito with an elephant gun, so why don't you just shuffle along?"

"It's the wanting that keeps us alive."

"If I didn't know you better I'd think you have the feigned indifference of a man in love. Go on son. Tell the truth and shame the devil."

"Do you know what my daughter's nurse told her today? In a girl's voice lies temptation - a known fact. Eloquence in a woman means promiscuity. Promiscuity of the mind leads to promiscuity of the body. She doesn't believe it yet, but she will. She'll grow up just like her mother. Marry, raise children and honor her family. Spend her youth in needlepoint and rue the day she was born a girl. And when she dies, she'll wonder why she obeyed all the rules of God and Country for no biblical hell could ever be worse than a state of perpetual inconsequence."

"Desire begins in the mind. Cleopatra, Theodocia, she could seduce a man at twenty paces, without revealing an inch of flesh."

"Danny Cunningham - Shaun Ryder"

"Ralf Little - Peter Hook"

"Dave Gorman - John"

"John Simm - Bernard Sumner"

"Mark Windows - Johnny Rotten"

"Chris Coghill - Bez"

"Martin Hancock - Howard DeVoto"

"Andy Serkis - Martin Hannett"

"Paddy Considine - Rob Gretton"

"Shirley Henderson - Lindsay Wilson"

"Lennie James - Alan Erasmus"

"Steve Coogan - Tony Wilson"

"[Over images of Ian Curtis, Shaun Ryder and Tony Wilson respectively:] Genius. Poet. Twat."

"The unbelievably true story of one man, one movement, the music and madness that was Manchester."

"[From film poster:] Share the Ecstasy."

"Roger Ames [reading Factory Records contract, written in Tony Wilson's blood]: The artists own all their work. The label owns nothing. Our bands have the freedom ... to fuck off."

"Shaun Ryder [explaining his stay in Barbados]]: I was stranded on a desert island with no shelter nor companionship. Every day, I kept watch for rescue, but no-one came. My only distraction was to write lyrics for my forthcoming album, but then I thought... "Why the fuck should I?!""

"Boethius: It's my belief that history is a wheel. "Inconstancy is my very essence" -says the wheel- "Rise up on my spokes if you like, but don't complain when you are cast back down into the depths. Good times pass away, but then so do the bad. Mutability is our tragedy, but it is also our hope. The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away"."

"John the Postman: [singing "Louie, Louie" drunkenly] Pogo like a bastard!"

"The Real Howard Devoto: [On his alleged affair with Tony Wilson's wife Lindsay] I definitely don't remember this happening."

"God: Tony, you did a good job. Basically you are right: Shaun is the greatest poet since Yeats."

"God: It's a pity you didn't sign the Smiths, but you were right about Mick Hucknall. His music's rubbish, and he's a ginger."

"Bez: Can I offer anybody like the best drug experience they ever had?"

"[To the members of the Happy Mondays] I'm still waiting, and it's very fucking boring! I'm gonna stick Bez's maracas up his fucking jacksie!"

"[On learning how much came out of the music budget to build the Haçienda] Well, goodbye. I mean, we obviously have nothing in common. I'm a genius, you're fucking wankers, you'll never see me again. You don't deserve to see me again."

"[To Stephen Morris, on his drumming] Stop that fucking horrible racket, please. (...) Nothing wrong with the drumming as such. It's just people have been playing like that for the past 20,000 years and quite frankly, it's boring me arse off, y'know? Let's try something simpler. Faster, but slower."

"Most of all, I love Manchester. The crumbling warehouses, the railway arches, the cheap abundant drugs. That's what did it in the end. Not the money, not the music, not even the guns. That is my heroic flaw: my excess of civic pride."

"[To Roger Ames, explaining his raison d'etre for running Factory as he had been doing] I have protected myself from ever having to sell out by having nothing to sell out."