A Led Zeppelin Bio Pic

[McSeven]

Do you think we will see a serious Led Zeppelin Bio Pic? If so what do you want to see in it.

I would like to see more studio sessions esppecially how they put Whole Lotta Love together. I don't want to see too much debauchery. I feel that the way that Zep is being lauded out in the media. We will see a Zep bio pic in the near future.

[phredzeppelin63]

I have heard for awhile one is being put together with jack black playing Bonham,but it never seems to find funding.

[Geezer]

Funding? If done properly, there is absolutely no question that the film will be a huge commercial success. I just don't think that the band members will allow a film to be made about themselves.

[TheStairwayRemainsTheSame]

I should direct it, it'd win an oscar no doubt.

[ScarletMacaw]

I was going to start this topic myself. Can we add a poll? e.g.:

Will you see the Zeppelin bio pic when it comes out?

1) I will see it.

2) I won't see it.

3) I will stage a protest against it.

4)Undecided.

I saw the Johnny Cash biopic and I didn't like it; Joaquin Phoenix as Cash didn't do it for me. I liked Oliver Stone's movie on the Doors...it is very hard to do a good biopic...I have a feeling the Zeppelin biopic will be bad and just make me angry.

[phredzeppelin63]

Funding? If done properly, there is absolutely no question that the film will be a huge commercial success. I just don't think that the band members will allow a film to be made about themselves.

Don't get pissed at me,man. I'd go see it in a second! Hollywood will spend 100 million on a movie loaded with special effects,but they can't spend under 10 to make a bio pic with a great subject? go figure! If somebody wants to make a movie about led zeppelin,it will get made regardless of whether or not the band wants it to happen!

[Percys_Plant]

Methinks the surviving band members might not want that done (but then again who wants to see themselves portrayed in a certain light on film especially if it's not done right).

Secondly, you can bet Hollywood would want to waste plenty of time on the 'debauchery/shenanigans/sensationalism' aspects of the band and maybe...oh...20% (if not less) on the actual musical process. [Leave that boring crap for the documentaries, eh?]

Thirdly, how do you condense 12 years of magic (and mayhem) into two or three hours without taking excessive liberty here and there? Including editing the hell out of worthy moments in time?

Anyhoo, I've yet to see one really good biopic of anybody (especially musicians) on film. Sure I'd go watch if any about Zep was eventually released, but only to satiate my curiosity.

[kenog]

There's the all-important question of who would play the part of the band members? Or Peter Grant and Richard Cole for that matter.

[ScarletMacaw]

There's the all-important question of who would play the part of the band members? Or Peter Grant and Richard Cole for that matter.

There are a lot of good actors in Hollywood; the problem is that none of them can sing like Robert Plant, play guitar like Jimmy Page or perform like JPJ or John Bonham either. So, either we would get excruciating musicianship or the actors miming to Led Zeppelin which might be even more ridiculous. I would not pay money to see this film, if it were made. The other problem is that a movie that's not a straight documentary needs a "plot" of some type and there is no plot to real life. In particular this would be difficult with a Led Zeppelin film because they didn't have a rise, fall and rise which could fit into a standard 3-act screenplay format. I mean I guess you could have the Celebration Day concert as the "comeback," but it would still be weird in my opinion, and especially if this film was made in the near future while the band members are still alive. I think most of us would prefer to just watch the concert footage we have and anyone who saw this film would probably not be a fan per se but someone who wants to see a presentation of rock and roll debauchery. And I don't think that would get made actually, not while the band members are alive, because it would invite lawsuits. In fact I don't think we will see such a film in the next 5 years and probably not the next 10 years.

[kenog]

You make a lot of good points here. As a die-hard fan of 39 years standing, I wouldn't like to see this made. Maybe its best left to movies like 'Rock of Ages' with Tom Cruise, or 'Almost Famous', where the characters are a composite based on those in the industry. The band members' lives offstage, and that of their families, were by and large kept out the public eye, so any 'plot' in that area would be conjecture. As for the actors miming, would they not need the band's permission to use their recordings? I couldn't see that forthcoming.

Purely from memory, I am sure that there were plans at one time to make a film of either 'Hammer of The Gods' or 'Stairway To Heaven', but that idea must have bitten the dust. If either of those had got off the ground, it would have featured the band's more salacious moments, and it just becomes boring. You'd have to feed me a lot of popcorn to sit through it!!

Edit: It has come back to me. When I first read many years ago about a proposed film based on 'The Hammer of The Gods', it was the English actor, Rufus Sewell who had been suggested to play Jimmy.

There are a lot of good actors in Hollywood; the problem is that none of them can sing like Robert Plant, play guitar like Jimmy Page or perform like JPJ or John Bonham either. So, either we would get excruciating musicianship or the actors miming to Led Zeppelin which might be even more ridiculous. I would not pay money to see this film, if it were made. The other problem is that a movie that's not a straight documentary needs a "plot" of some type and there is no plot to real life. In particular this would be difficult with a Led Zeppelin film because they didn't have a rise, fall and rise which could fit into a standard 3-act screenplay format. I mean I guess you could have the Celebration Day concert as the "comeback," but it would still be weird in my opinion, and especially if this film was made in the near future while the band members are still alive. I think most of us would prefer to just watch the concert footage we have and anyone who saw this film would probably not be a fan per se but someone who wants to see a presentation of rock and roll debauchery. And I don't think that would get made actually, not while the band members are alive, because it would invite lawsuits. In fact I don't think we will see such a film in the next 5 years and probably not the next 10 years.

[redirtuo]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Page

Ewan McGregor as Plant

Viggo Mortensen as JPJ

Russell Crowe as Peter Grant

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Can't decide on Bonham role

[ScarletMacaw]

Viggo is well into his 50s...Aronofsky would be an interesting choice though....

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Page

Ewan McGregor as Plant

Viggo Mortensen as JPJ

Russell Crowe as Peter Grant

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Can't decide on Bonham role

They would have to pay the band royalties for performing or playing their songs for money, but they wouldn't need "permission" I don't think...I'm not an intellectual property lawyer though, so can't say for sure....

You make a lot of good points here. As a die-hard fan of 39 years standing, I wouldn't like to see this made. Maybe its best left to movies like 'Rock of Ages' with Tom Cruise, or 'Almost Famous', where the characters are a composite based on those in the industry. The band members' lives offstage, and that of their families, were by and large kept out the public eye, so any 'plot' in that area would be conjecture. As for the actors miming, would they not need the band's permission to use their recordings? I couldn't see that forthcoming.

Purely from memory, I am sure that there were plans at one time to make a film of either 'Hammer of The Gods' or 'Stairway To Heaven', but that idea must have bitten the dust. If either of those had got off the ground, it would have featured the band's more salacious moments, and it just becomes boring. You'd have to feed me a lot of popcorn to sit through it!!

Edit: It has come back to me. When I first read many years ago about a proposed film based on 'The Hammer of The Gods', it was the English actor, Rufus Sewell who had been suggested to play Jimmy.

[phredzeppelin63]

'Rock of Ages' with Tom Cruise

worst rock an roll flick ever made! all those power ballads from those crappy hair bands! just one of the worst flicks I ever saw!

[Sagittarius Rising]

I don't like Joseph Gordon Levitt as Page and E McGregor would suck as Plant. I think Bradley Cooper or that tall, blond vampire Eric on True Blood would be a good Plant; Ryan Gosling or Christian Bale as Page, though I think Health Ledger would have been the best choice; Cillian Murphy as JPJ, and I know I am going to be cock punched for this but have you ever seen Keanu Reeves with a full beard & mustache? He looks much like a young Bonham. Viggo Mortensen would be a great Cole and the amazing Robbie Coltrane as Grant!

Waddya think???

[Cecil.]

No , I really do not think it would work, even as a TV movie.

[Percys_Plant]

I don't like Joseph Gordon Levitt as Page and E McGregor would suck as Plant. I think Bradley Cooper or that tall, blond vampire Eric on True Blood would be a good Plant; Ryan Gosling or Christian Bale as Page, though I think Health Ledger would have been the best choice; Cillian Murphy as JPJ, and I know I am going to be cock punched for this but have you ever seen Keanu Reeves with a full beard & mustache? He looks much like a young Bonham. Viggo Mortensen would be a great Cole and the amazing Robbie Coltrane as Grant!

Waddya think???

You weren't being serious, were you?

[kingzoso]

In my opinion, even if there was a biopic made of Led Zeppelin, it would not do justice to the band. I say this, like someone else mentioned, how can you make a movie about the history of the Greatest Rock and Roll Band of All-Time, Led Zeppelin, into a 2, maybe, 3 hour movie.

How could someone make a movie that starts with the formation of the band (there is even a whole back story of all the members before this even happened), to the making of the first album, second, third album and IV album, all the way up to Led Zeppelin breaking all concert attendance records when they played in Tampa, Florida in 1973.

Add to this, the making of Physical Graffiti, Presence, etc.. and all the excess that would include groupies, mud sharks, televisions out the window, cocaine and heroin.

Any attempt at a movie of this magnitude would leave out a lot of the History of Led Zeppelin (for better or worse).

[JesseNoah]

Maybe a movie about John Bonham? A struggling young father who takes his act on the road to bring in money to feed his starving family, but his homesickness leaves him as a tortured musician type who struggles with addiction, and at the climax of the movie tells Jimmy to take better care of himself so he will play better, only to die in his sleep later that night...

Accurate? maybe.... Hollywood enough? Definitely!

[BUK]

I've been saying it for years, well before the '02 reunion. They should do a 3 hour 3d CGI recreation of the greatest Zep concert that never happened. Get the guys a WETA digital to re-create the boys in their heyday (say '77 with no drugs), re-record note for note (except the bum ones), in high def 3D. Treat it as concert event. It'd be ground breaking in Zep tradition. It could be career spanning, in the sense that you could re-create the BEST version of each song from ANY era. We've seen the tribute bands like GTLO that reverentially re-create the albums note for note and pack houses. This would be the next step. PLUS if done right, it would make millions of new fans. It'd spawn a whole generation of "era sims" for those that would like to step back and experience some past greatness with current fidelity. Just spit ballin' here. PS It'd avoid all that "bio" nonsense and focus on the music we all dig.

[ScarletMacaw]

I've been saying it for years, well before the '02 reunion. They should do a 3 hour 3d CGI recreation of the greatest Zep concert that never happened. Get the guys a WETA digital to re-create the boys in their heyday (say '77 with no drugs), re-record note for note (except the bum ones), in high def 3D. Treat it as concert event. It'd be ground breaking in Zep tradition. It could be career spanning, in the sense that you could re-create the BEST version of each song from ANY era. We've seen the tribute bands like GTLO that reverentially re-create the albums note for note and pack houses. This would be the next step. PLUS if done right, it would make millions of new fans. It'd spawn a whole generation of "era sims" for those that would like to step back and experience some past greatness with current fidelity. Just spit ballin' here. PS It'd avoid all that "bio" nonsense and focus on the music we all dig.

This would be an atrocity. We already have enough people in our society who can't tell fantasy from reality. Why make a CGI Led Zeppelin when there's plenty of concert footage of the real thing? CGI is warping the minds of weak people and maybe even some normal young people as well. Some of them can't tell real from fantasy violence. People need to learn to tolerate real life with all its warts. There has been a lot of research documenting increases in narcissistic personality disorder, an illness that involves an inability to tolerate faults and weakness in self and others. There's also research documenting that people have more difficulty with intimacy and forming close interpersonal relations. There are many reasons for this, but being constantly exposed to CGI images of action figures in video games, movies and now you're suggesting an "improved" version of Jimmy Page or Robert Plant, is part of it.

[Mudslider]

Jimmy page, Jr. Can produce it and Scarlett can film it. Lol.