Red carpet filming of final scene

A musician who named himself Rock And Roll's Greatest Failure is hoping to make cinema history by screening a film before the final scene has been completed.

The premiere of John Otway's feature-length warts-and-all documentary Otway: The Movie will be shown on Sunday at London's Odeon Leicester Square.

But the final scenes will only be filmed as cult act Otway and the audience arrive on the red carpet and will be edited while the film is under way.

The documentary, which charts the singer's career from the punk days of the late 70s up to the making of the film, has been produced for Otway's 60th birthday.

The film begins with Otway's first taste of chart success in 1977 with the song Cor Baby That's Really Free and television appearances, including Top Of The Pops.

A notable appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test at the time made audiences wince as Otway fell painfully over an amplifier while performing.

The documentary goes on to chart a catalogue of spectacular failures, including plans for a world tour by hiring his own jumbo jet and filling it with 300 fans in 2006.

But Otway, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, has had some successes. He played the Royal Albert Hall with a full orchestra to celebrate his 40th birthday. For his 50th birthday in 2002, he achieved his first Top 10 hit with the single Bunsen Burner and played the London Palladium.

Otway: The Movie is funded, produced and directed by Otway's fans, who are said to include a number of well-known artists, directors and industry professionals. Following the screening in London, the film will be shown at international festivals before a planned full release in 2013.

Otway said: "It's really exciting, we will all be sitting down to watch my new film and even I won't know how it's going to end."