With his innate theatricality, it was just a matter of time before Jagger gravitated to acting, and 1970 saw him in two feature films, "Ned Kelly" (which opened first) and "Performance". Starring in the title role of the former as Australia's most famous outlaw (c. 1870), he added whiskers to make his tough gaunt pop hero face take on a credible, hard bitten frontier look and displayed flashes of ease before the camera. A bad script, however, doomed the Tony Richardson project from the outset. Although the psychological melodrama of "Performance", co-directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, is not for all tastes, Jagger's character of a retired bisexual rock star was certainly close to home, and his performance of "Memo from T" was a highlight of the film. Prior commitments forced him to abandon his part in Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" (1981), but he did appear in "Burden of Dreams" (1982), the documentary about its making. He also starred in 1983 "The Nightingale" episode of Showtime's "Faerie Tale Theatre" and as a charming, ruthless bounty hunter in the sci-fi feature "Freejack" (1992).
Philosophical differences with Keith Richards over the artistic direction of the Stones (Jagger favoring a more dance-oriented approach with Richards remaining steadfast by the band's rock'n'roll roots) led Jagger to release his first solo recording, "She's the Boss" (1985). Critically well-received, the album went platinum, and the single "Just Another Night" climbed to Number 12 on the charts. His next solo effort, "Primitive Cool" (1987), despite enthusiastic critical notices, was a commercial bust, failing to even reach gold status, and though garnering the best reviews yet for his gold album "Wandering Spirits" (1993), Jagger has been unable to establish himself as a solo recording star. He is just too closely identified with the Rolling Stones, and it is for his association with Richards and the other band members that his legend resides. Mick Jagger has survived the rock'n'roll wars, not just to tell about them, but to continue carrying the standard forward in the record-setting "Steel Wheels" (1990), "Voodoo Lounge" (1995) and "Bridges to Babylon" (1997) tours.
The Rolling Stones are an institution, and as prime mover and shaker of that institution, Jagger devotes a tremendous amount of time and energy to its business, yet the movie bug in him led to his founding the production company Jagged Films, which is developing more than a dozen projects. "Performance" met "Cabaret" in his outstanding turn as the politically astute drag queen who knows just when the time is right to burn his dresses and go back to his wife in Sean Mathias' adaptation of Martin Sherman's "Bent" (1997), about the treatment of homosexuals in Nazi Germany. He has professed a desire to put his music on hold for a few years in order to concentrate on his film career, but one doubts he could resist the call of the road if all systems were go (corporate sponsors in place, etc.) for another tour. After all, that adrenaline rush from fronting the band is the tonic that has maintained his youthfulness.
In 2001, Jagger placed his music on hold to serve as a producer for the British spy drama, "Enigma". Then one year later, he portrayed Luther Fox in the drama, "Man From Elysian Fields" (2002), a feature produced by actor Andy Garcia.