Led Zeppelin Documentary!!

[Cookie0024]

1 hour ago, drpete said:

This must be at least a 3 to 4 hour or more doc right?  If its 90 minutes that will be disappointing to say the least 

Last year a submission to a film festival listed the film's runtime as two hours and 27 minutes https://ledzepnews.com/2020/04/04/is-the-official-led-zeppelin-documentary-called-apollo/

[guyglans]

This will be a yawn fest.Same crap we already know.The footage will be amateur,which we might have seen.Bath,if anything will more than likely be some cheap B&W 20 minutes backstage,as exciting as a fart in an elevator.I dont think i will bother with it.Page has let us down many times,this wont be any different.Yawn zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[SuperDave]

Looking forward to this. Long delay with Covid-19 as they couldn't get access to some material in the faults stored in the UK. Glad it's now confirmed and can't wait to see it.

[SteveAJones]

17 hours ago, Cookie0024 said:

Looks like the band's PR agency sent out a press release which Variety and NME have written up - but whoever runs the Led Zeppelin website wasn't kept in the loop/didn't think this qualified as "news" enough for a rare official update on the site.

Sam was called upon and directly contributed to this project. In my opinion, a premier screening or an official release date would be newsworthy, the PR staff issuing a press release just to report "it's done" not so much.

[SteveAJones]

4 hours ago, guyglans said:

This will be a yawn fest.Same crap we already know.The footage will be amateur,which we might have seen.Bath,if anything will more than likely be some cheap B&W 20 minutes backstage,as exciting as a fart in an elevator.I dont think i will bother with it.Page has let us down many times,this wont be any different.Yawn zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The 2014-2015 remasters campaign revealed just how unrealistic the expectations of the band's most ardent enthusiasts can be.   

That said, as an official, band-involved commercial release intended for general public it's likely to be neither all grand nor all bland. 

[zeplz71]

Venice Festival Adds Music Doc ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ to Lineup

The new documentary from 'American Epic' director Bernard MacMahon is billed as an inside look at the rise of one of the world's biggest rock bands.

August 3, 2021

Venice is ready to rock.

In a late addition, the Venice International Film Festival has added Bernard MacMahon’s music documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin to its official 2021 lineup.

The film, which will have its world premiere out of competition at the 78th Venice festival, is billed as an inside look into the early days of the legendary rock band. The documentary follows the four members of Led Zeppelin — Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant — as they move through the British music scene of the 1960s, gigging at small clubs to a fateful rehearsal in 1968 that changes their lives forever. The film culminates in Led Zeppelin’s 1970 tour of America, where they became the number one band in the world.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/venice-film-festival-2021-led-zeppelin-documentary-1234991864/

 

[zeplz71]

 

https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/becoming-led-zeppelin-bernard-macmahon-screen-out-competition

Becoming Led Zeppelin

Becoming Led Zeppelin, directed by Bernard MacMahon (American Epic), and co-written and produced by Allison McGourty, with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant as themselves, will feature in the out-of-competition section at the 78^th Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, directed by Alberto Barbera (September 1—11, 2021).

Becoming Led Zeppelinis a documentary that reveals the individual journeys of the four members of the band, as they move through the music scene of the 1960s, playing small clubs throughout Britain and performing some of the biggest hits of the era, until their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that changes their lives forever. Their four journeys merge into one as they set out to conquer America on a rollercoaster ride that culminates in 1970 when they become the number one band in the world. Before the stairway and the dragon, before the gold and the girls, there were simply four men and their love of music.

Bernard MacMahon says: “With Becoming Led Zeppelin my goal was to make a documentary that looks and feels like a musical. I wanted to weave together the four diverse stories of the band members before and after they formed their group with large sections of their story advanced using only music and imagery and to contextualize the music with the locations where it was created and the world events that inspired it. I used only original prints and negatives, with over 70,000 frames of footage manually restored, and devised fantasia sequences, inspired by Singin’ In The Rain, layering unseen performance footage with montages of posters, tickets and travel to create a visual sense of the freneticism of their early career.”

Bernard MacMahon –
Biographical note

Bernard MacMahon’s debut film, American Epic, won the Audience Award at the Sydney International Film Festival and his musical The American Epic Sessions won both the Audience Award and Discovery Award at the Calgary International Film Festival and a Grammy. He was nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Breakthrough Talent Award and a Primetime Emmy. His debut book American Epic won the Association of Recorded Sound Collectors Award for Best Historical Research. American Epic was made part of the school syllabus at the University of Chicago Laboratory School and taught across 13 grades.

[The Only Way To Fly]

4 hours ago, zeplz71 said:

and devised fantasia sequences

I wonder what these will look like? Looks like we only have a few weeks to find out! FINALLY!

[SteveAJones]

15 minutes ago, The Only Way To Fly said:

I wonder what these will look like? Looks like we only have a few weeks to find out! FINALLY!

 

[Giveroffire]

There's your screening....

Fantasia sequences....uh-oh! I'm sure the Spinal Tap pretensions of TSRTS will be avoided at all costs....save for Bonzo!

And hopefully some of the lag time was spent restoring the Bath Festival performance for official consumption....here we go!

[SuperDave]

14 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Sam was called upon and directly contributed to this project. In my opinion, a premier screening or an official release date would be newsworthy, the PR staff issuing a press release just to report "it's done" not so much.

That was my guess why it wasn't reported on this site or other noteworthy music sites like Rolling Stone (no matter what everyone thinks of them) and some of the major news sites. Looking extremely forward to this. I'm sure it's good considering who JP hired to do this with his prior work.

[Giveroffire]

Agreed....American Epic was incredibly well done...worth watching if you haven't seen it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rm2551]

I wonder if....

Any recording of that first rehearsal jam at Jimmy's house will be part of the doco....

It was produced in such a way that a second doco going from 1970 onward would nicely flow on - if ever considered.

[BobDobbs]

16 hours ago, zeplz71 said:

 

 and devised fantasia sequences, inspired by Singin’ In The Rain, 

SWEET! Maybe we can see some Gene Kelly high-stepping to Immigrant Song while faceless Vikings are savagely slaughtering English peasants in the background 

[BobDobbs]

20 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

The 2014-2015 remasters campaign revealed just how unrealistic the expectations of the band's most ardent enthusiasts can be.   

That said, as an official, band-involved commercial release intended for general public it's likely to be neither all grand nor all bland. 

[ohjimmy]

On 8/3/2021 at 7:55 AM, zeplz71 said:

Venice Festival Adds Music Doc ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ to Lineup

The new documentary from 'American Epic' director Bernard MacMahon is billed as an inside look at the rise of one of the world's biggest rock bands.

August 3, 2021

Venice is ready to rock.

In a late addition, the Venice International Film Festival has added Bernard MacMahon’s music documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin to its official 2021 lineup.

The film, which will have its world premiere out of competition at the 78th Venice festival, is billed as an inside look into the early days of the legendary rock band. The documentary follows the four members of Led Zeppelin — Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant — as they move through the British music scene of the 1960s, gigging at small clubs to a fateful rehearsal in 1968 that changes their lives forever. The film culminates in Led Zeppelin’s 1970 tour of America, where they became the number one band in the world.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/venice-film-festival-2021-led-zeppelin-documentary-1234991864/

 

Lucky Venice.

I  still have my fingers crossed it’ll show at the Toronto Film Festival in September. I was lucky enough to catch “It Might Get Loud” at TIFF in 2008. My luck didn’t end there, as I was also able to get a picture of Jimmy coming out of a bistro across the street from the event that Saturday afternoon. A day I’ll never ever  forget!

[gibsonfan159]

Chances of the first screening getting bootlegged? 🤣

Edited August 6, 2021 by gibsonfan159

[Moby_Dick_Ale]

4 hours ago, gibsonfan159 said:

Chances of the first screening getting bootlegged? 🤣

Guess not as you've got be involved in cinema-business to get an accreditation: https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2021/accreditation (scroll down to "cinema accreditation")

BTW. it is supposed to be running 137 mins: https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2021/out-competition/becoming-led-zeppelin

[sam_webmaster]

https://www.ledzeppelin.com/news/becoming-led-zeppelin-world-premiere-1274941

[Paimonus Rex]

On 4/5/2020 at 10:01 AM, Rodrigo said:

I think this is why it could be "Apollo"...

Ehhhhh...that's Icarus. 

[The Only Way To Fly]

Crossing fingers there will be an audio release to go along with this. 

[Walter]

On 8/3/2021 at 4:15 AM, SteveAJones said:

The 2014-2015 remasters campaign revealed just how unrealistic the expectations of the band's most ardent enthusiasts can be.   

That said, as an official, band-involved commercial release intended for general public it's likely to be neither all grand nor all bland. 

Yup. You nailed it. 

[chef free]

On 8/3/2021 at 1:15 AM, SteveAJones said:

The 2014-2015 remasters campaign revealed just how unrealistic the expectations of the band's most ardent enthusiasts can be.   

That said, as an official, band-involved commercial release intended for general public it's likely to be neither all grand nor all bland. 

The band broke up over 40 years ago and folks are still asking "Why is there no new material?!?" Jeez, tough audience...

[Strider]

Haters be damned, I am looking forward to this. For one thing, I always think Jimmy Page is like the Cheshire Cat when talking about what is or is not in the archives. I think there is a bit more than he lets on, especially in the studio stuff of the band recording. But whatever footage is used, this new documentary is already bound to be miles better than all of the MTV, BBC, A & E and other so-called documentaries of Led Zeppelin that have oozed out over the years.

It would have been nice if they could have planned it better so that it came out in time for the band's 50th anniversary, but beggars can't be choosers.

[rm2551]

6 hours ago, Strider said:

I think there is a bit more than he lets on, especially in the studio stuff of the band recording.

Interesting Strider. I recall he has said pretty firmly there is nothing left of studio stuff on the shelf while promoting the re-release series. In fact, I found it a bit positive the way he seemed to be careful when saying this - he always specifically said studio material. I always took that to mean he does have some live stuff on the shelf but doesn't want to talk about that (leave that card up his sleeve).