The Chain
Genre: Drama/Biography/Music
Director: Charlotte Wells
Writer: Diane Esposito
Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Joe Keery, Saoirse Ronan, Toby Kebbell, Harry Lloyd, Jonah Hauer-King, Tom Payne, Scott MacArthur, Holliday Grainger, Jow Alwyn, Emile Hirsch
Plot: The original lineup of Fleetwood Mac plays their blues music to a heaving club of European kids in Munich. Their fingers of their guitarist Peter Green (Tom Payne) slide down the guitar neck. The rest of the band - keyboardist Christine McVie (Saoirse Ronan), her husband John McVie (Harry Lloyd), and drummer Mick Fleetwood (Toby Kebbell) - try to follow him, but Peter is no longer in time with them - he seems like he's in another dimension. Peter finally stops playing altogether. He takes off his shoes and walks off the stage. Mick barrels after him, shoving through the crowd, eventually finding Peter standing in the rain behind the club. Mick pleads for him to come back in, but Peter does not respond - instead he stares up to the heavens and tells Mick he is not interested in rock stardom. In the morning, the band's equipment sits in the corner of a German hotel room. Peter never made it back from the club.
Years pass without much glory and Fleetwood Mac has gone through a revolving door of guitarists to replace Peter. In a Los Angeles recording studio, Mick sits behind his drum set, pounding to a rhythm. Christine plays along on a piano. Sound engineer Keith Olsen (Emile Hirsch) pokes his head into the studio. He asks if Mick would be willing to listen to something he recorded with a local duo. Mick humors him, pressing play on the recording. A clean, cutting guitar riff breaks the silence, followed by a woman’s voice that fills the studio. Mick immediately rewinds the tape, replaying the section where the guitar and voice meet again and again. Mick asks Keith who recorded the song. Keith says that it's just a couple Palo Alto kids trying to pay their rent - nobody of note.
At Sound City Studios, Lindsey Buckingham (Joe Keery) and Stevie Nicks (Sydney Sweeney) stand on opposite sides of a single microphone. Lindsey keeps asking the engineers for another take after even the slightest of imperfections. Stevie closes her eyes and sings through the exhaustion. Keith brings Mick into the booth to watch the duo record. Outside the studio, Lindsey lights a cigarette. Mick comes outside to talk to him. Mick is impressed by Lindsey's guitar work and offers him the job of guitarist in Fleetwood Mac. Lindsey motions toward Stevie and says that he refuses unless she comes with him as a member of the band.
A few weeks later, Lindsey and Stevie pull up to the Fleetwood Mac house in the Hollywood Hills, an overgrown property full of instruments, cats, and mismatched furniture. Mick greets them. John McVie eyes them skeptically while Christine pours tea and tries to make everyone comfortable. The band plugs in and starts to play. Lindsey quickly finds a riff, Christine drifts into harmony, John follows with his bass instinctively, while Stevie begins to hum along almost shyly. When the song ends, no one speaks right away. Mick leans back behind his drum kit and looks toward John and Christine. They both give him a nod. The new Fleetwood Mac has just been born.
The band quickly gets to the recording studio. Mick keeps things moving for the band. Lindsey obsesses over guitar tones. Christine keeps things calm with her melodies. Stevie records vocals for "Rhiannon". Keith Olsen quickly realizes that this new Fleetwood Mac has something special the previous version lacked. They record through the night, and by dawn they "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me" rough-cut onto tape.
Barely finished with the album, the band piles into planes and buses. Crowds start out small. But as the tour progresses, and word of mouth spreads, both the crowds and the venues swell city after city. Stevie steps to the microphone in her black shawl, wind machine lifting her hair, and the audience gasps - no one has seen a frontwoman like her. Lindsey feeds off her energy, ripping solos that border on manic. Backstage, the dynamic begins to shift though. Lindsey’s corrections of Stevie become sharper, his need for control louder. Christine keeps the peace with jokes and small kindnesses, John slipping further into the background, finding company in the bar. Mick acts like a proud father until the arguments start about set lists and credits.
The first album from the new lineup, the self-titled Fleetwood Mac, explodes. Radio stations spin “Rhiannon” nonstop. Record executives toast to the reborn band. Stevie becomes the new face of it all - magazines call her mysterious, enchanting. Lindsey handles the interviews, talking about artistry and process as if to remind everyone he’s the architect behind Stevie and the band's new life. In hotel rooms, the lines between work and life blur. Stevie writes alone by window light after multiple fights in her relationship with Lindsey, who frequently storms out only to romantically apologize quickly after with flowers and cocaine. Christine and John begin to drift apart. She wakes to eat breakfast early while John sleeps later, sleeping off the booze from the nights before. Meanwhile, Mick fields endless calls from the record label, begging the band to get back into the recording studio as soon as the tour is over to strike while the iron is hot.
Six months into the tour, the grind has worn the band down. Lindsey’s temper flares over sound issues, Stevie’s patience evaporates. Christine writes new material to escape the noise. John's drinking continues to escalate, with Christine shoving coffee down his throat before shows to sober him up at least a little bit. In a dressing-room mirror, Stevie touches up her makeup, catching Lindsey watching her reflection instead of her. Neither says anything. Later that night, on stage, they harmonize perfectly. After the show, Christine corners Mick, suggesting a break before recording again. Mick shakes his head, saying the label wants another album immediately.
The band's whirlwind success from the Fleetwood Mac album and their long, exhausting tour, has barely cooled when Stevie and Lindsey's relationship finally collapses. Their apartment is half-packed with suitcases and instrument cases - her stuff on one side, his stuff on the other. Stevie accuses Lindsey of trying to control her, of trying to turn their love into a performance rather than a normal relationship. Stevie then storms out with a suitcase. Lindsey calls Mick in a panic. When Mick arrives at the apartment, he finds Stevie gone and Lindsey sitting on a couch, staring at the wall. Lindsey tells Mick admits that things are finally over for Stevie and him. Mick just nods.
Mick manages to get the group to all return to the studio - barely. Mick is there first while the rest of the band arrives in waves, all separately. Arguments start before tape even roles - over tempo, over tone, over who's really in charge. Lindsey begins directing the studio crew with manic energy, barking orders at engineers. He expresses his frustration at Stevie, who fires back, kicking off a big argument that prompts Mick to suggest they record their parts in separate booths. As night falls, the band fragments. Lindsey stays late, recording guitar overdubs alone. Stevie is in a separate recording booth working out some lyrics.
During a late-night rehearsal, Curry Grant (Jonah Hauer-King), the band’s lighting director and road manager, lingers in the control room, running cables. Christine stays behind to re-record a piano line, John long since gone back to the hotel. Curry brings her a coffee, and compliments the song. She smiles.
In the morning, the band begins recording "Dreams". Stevie stands barefoot at the mic, eyes closed. Christine plays a simply electric-piano rhythm behind her, careful to not cover up the words. Mick brushes the cymbals softly. John keeps the bass simple, finding the tempo with Mick's drumming. Behind the glass, Lindsey listens with his arms folded. The song is clearly about him. The engineers can sense the tension and turn to Lindsey. He nods for them to keep the tape rolling. Stevie finishes the take and steps out, walking past Lindsey without a word. Later, alone at the console, Lindsey replays Stevie's vocals, absorbing the words, which hit him harder than he expected. He switches off the tape and sits in silence, tapping his fingers against the desk.
Lindsey arrives early one morning, unshaven, fueled by caffeine and anger. He starts pounding a jagged rhythm on his acoustic guitar. Mick hears it from the hallway and joins Lindsey in the recording booth, matching the aggression with his drums, beat for beat. Christine and John soon join as well, finding their places in the song - "Go Your Own Way". By the time Stevie arrives, the others have been at it for hours. She listens to the playback and quickly realizes it is Lindsey's response to her song "Dreams". Stevie soon steps into the vocal booth by herself and records her harmonies for the song, eyes fixed on the floor.
One night after a stressful recording session, Christine finds herself crying in the stairwell. Curry sits beside her, his hand brushing hers. The two kiss. John finds out. He doesn't yell. He just stops talking to her.
Weeks stretch into months in the studio as the band juggles recording almost every part separately to avoid confrontation. The studio becomes a maze of closed doors. Stevie and Lindsey record their vocals separately. Christine and John decide to call their marriage quits as well, but keep things professional. Mick leads things, juggling schedules. Engineer Ken Caillat (Scott MacArthur) begins labeling tracks by who could stand to be in the same room together. At night, when most have left, Mick wanders through the dim rooms, touching each instrument.
One evening, near the end of the sessions, Christine starts improvising a slow, looping piano line. John joins on bass, building something deeper, almost mournful. Lindsey adds a haunting guitar. Mick picks up the rhythm on drums. Then Stevie, listening from the hallway, steps in and begins humming over it. It's the first time since day one that the band has all been in the booth together. They keep playing, finding the song despite the tension between them all. The engineers quietly hit record. Hours later, the band gathers around the console, listening to the playback. No one speaks. The song is called "The Chain."
Months later, the album, Rumours, hits stores. Record shops stack it floor to ceiling. Radio stations play it nonstop. Backstage before a sold-out show, the five members of the band prepare in near silence. Lindsey warms up his guitar. Stevie adjusts her shawl. Christine hums softly to herself. The crowd roars as they walk out one by one. When they start “The Chain,” the audience of 50,000 fans scream every word. Afterward, the backstage area feels like a traveling circus: champagne, flashbulbs, strangers pressing in with offers and powder. Mick moves through it all half-dazed, every handshake another deal, every line of cocaine another blur. Stevie collapses onto a couch still in costume, breathing hard, glitter stuck to her skin. Someone asks for an autograph and she signs without looking up. When the adrenaline of each concert fades, the band sits in hotel suites surrounded by empty glasses, unable to sleep.
Back in Los Angeles, the band begins writing again. Sessions stretch past midnight. Mick and Stevie stay later than the rest. They begin sleeping with each other - something both know will end badly, but they can't seem to help themselves. Lindsey senses it before anyone confirms it. His arguments with Stevie become crueler, sharper, while Mick avoids his eyes completely. Christine tries to stay out of it, focusing on her songs. When the affair with Stevie cools, Mick retreats to a quieter studio to clear his head. A woman from the label’s art department, Sara Recor (Holliday Grainger), is cataloging tour photos. She jokes that the band looks allergic to sunlight in the pictures. He laughs for the first time in weeks.
During the band’s downtime, Stevie drifts toward another familiar face - Don Henley (Joe Alwyn) of the Eagles. He's everything the men of Fleetwood Mac are not - calm, collected. They have a red-hot affair, meeting late at night in recording studios and hotel rooms. For a while, Stevie feels peace. But the drugs never stop. When Stevie discovers she is pregnant with Henley's child, she's already exhausted, her life running entirely on adrenaline and white powder. She disappears for a few days. When she returns, thinner, quieter, no one asks where she’s been. Henley does, once, and she tells him it’s done. He looks at her for a long time before changing the subject - sensing what has happened.
A few weeks later, Stevie visits Henley at his house in the hills. They sit outside near the pool, the city lights below them. He plays her a new demo on acoustic guitar. She tells him it's beautiful. He says he wrote it for someone he couldn’t keep - her. Stevie calmly gets up to leave. Henley watches her drive off down the hill.
Lindsey decides the band's next album should sound nothing like Rumours. He brings in marching-band recordings, experimental tape loops, anything to shatter expectations. The others nod, too tired and strung out to argue. The studio becomes a maze of cables, percussion instruments, and white lines on every surface. Lindsey doesn't partake in the cocaine like every one else though - the music is clearly his drug. Christine watches the chaos from behind her keyboard. John shows up when called, plays perfectly, leaves early. Mick keeps time through it all, drumming with manic precision. Stevie’s voice is now rougher from years on tour and her spiraling drug use. When the label hears the cost of the sessions, they panic. Ken Caillat mutters to an assistant that the cocaine budget is bigger than the drum budget. The band doesn’t care though - knowing how much money they made the label with their last two albums.
The Tusk tour begins under a cloud of expectation and fatigue. Reviews on the album Tusk are mixed. Audiences still come, but something essential has gone missing. The band members feel disconnected, speaking to each other only when necessary. Backstage one night, Stevie and Mick pass each other without a word. Their affair has ended, leaving only awkward distance. Lindsey breaks a string mid-show and smashes his guitar in frustration - the crowd cheers anyway. Christine finishes her last encore with tears running down her face that no one notices. When the tour finally ends, Mick gathers the band for a quick toast in a hotel suite. They clink glasses, barely smiling. As the others drift out, he stays behind.
The years pass, but the tension and drama do not. In 1987, the band - older and splintered - gathers in a glossy Los Angeles studio to record Tango in the Night. Stevie has just returned from rehab, still unsteady, her movements sharp and restless. Lindsey has buried himself in production, every knob and fader under his control. Mick and John keep to themselves, while Christine tries to hold everyone in orbit through sheer patience. During a late-night session, the tension snaps. Stevie storms into the control room mid-take, eyes glassy, words slurred. She accuses Lindsey of cutting her vocals down in the mix. He shouts back, saying she can’t even sing on time anymore. The fight turns physical - Stevie lunges at him, nails flashing, the rest of the band rushing in to pull her away. The next morning, Lindsey quits. He packs up his guitars, walks past the others without saying goodbye, and leaves the studio.
The years that follow scatter them. Stevie tours solo, her voice raw but magnetic, every performance walking a line between triumph and collapse. Christine retreats to England, buying a cottage by the water and quietly releasing music on her own terms. John keeps playing sessions for others, his drinking finally slowing down. Mick writes a tell-all memoir, claiming honesty but mostly chasing bills. The book’s release reopens wounds the band had barely let scar. Lindsey produces solo albums from his home studio, precise and polished, rarely smiling in interviews.
In the early 90s, the band reunites briefly to play at President Clinton’s inauguration. The cameras love it, but backstage, they barely speak, and Lindsey refuses to even look at Stevie. After the show, Mick corners her, asking if it felt right. She tells him it felt like pretending. The band scatters again. Stevie records a solo album sober for the first time in years.
When a producer approaches Mick about a possible MTV special reuniting the original Rumours lineup, he hesitates, then calls Christine. She says she’ll do it if the others will. Stevie says yes before he can finish the sentence. Lindsey takes the longest to answer, but agrees once Mick mentions that Stevie has promised she is sober.
The five members of the band walk into a rehearsal hall in Burbank one by one. No greetings, just nods. Mick sits behind his kit and starts a slow beat. John joins. Christine smiles faintly and adds piano. Lindsey picks up his guitar. Stevie stands by the mic, waiting. They play "Landslide". The sound isn't perfect, but the chemistry is still clearly there. When the song ends, Stevie and Lindsey glance at each other for the first time in years. Neither speaks.
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