Deseree Stukes ([email protected])
Fri, 30 Oct 1998 19:42:22 -0500
U2
U2 Director And Others Talk About Rock Docs
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(10/29/98, 6 p.m. PST) - Entropy, the next film by director Phil Joanou
will feature U2's Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. as themselves, and the band
appears in footage shot during the Pop Mart tour's Capetown, South
Africa date. However, Joanou noted, it's not a concert film. "It's a
love story," he insisted, "starring Stephen Dorff, not U2."
While Joanou's forthcoming effort may not be a concert film, the
director was on hand to kick off the Third International Documentary
Congress in Los Angeles on Wednesday (Oct. 28). After all, Joanou is
probably best-known as the director of U2's 1988 rockumentary Rattle And
Hum.
The wiry director was joined by filmmakers including D.A. Pennebaker
(Don't Look Back, Monterey Pop), Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter), and
Michael Lindsay-Hogg (Let It Be) to discuss the problems and pleasures
of documenting rock music and musicians.
Through the years, such documentaries have captured some of the greatest
moments in rock. There's probably no more enduring image of Jimi Hendrix
than his setting a guitar on fire while playing "Wild Thing," which was
shot by Pennebaker for the documentary Monterey Pop. Other memorable
rock moments captured on film include the Beatles playing "Get Back" on
a London rooftop in Let It Be, Bob Dylan ruthlessly taunting Donovan in
Don't Look Back, Mick Jagger helplessly pleading for calm in Gimme
Shelter, the Los Angeles punk band Fear getting into an onstage brawl
with its fans seen in The Decline Of Western Civilization, and David
Byrne's "big suit" in Stop Making Sense.
Pennebaker said the key to getting musicians to feel comfortable enough
to give "real" performances is a matter of gaining trust: "every
musician has a place in their mind that they go and hide. You have to be
able to draw them out." Lindsay-Hogg agreed, but added that intuition
("you just smell it") and a little deviousness definitely helps. Early
in the shooting of Let It Be Lindsay-Hogg became aware that John Lennon
and Paul McCartney were close to erupting, but was worried they might
try and smooth things over and present a united front to the cameras.
"They had known each other since they were kids and knew what buttons to
push," He said. The solution: "We pulled all the way back and put very
long lenses on the cameras. There was also a camera high above them, in
a loft. They had no idea they were being filmed." But even the best-laid
plans can go awry, he said. A planned 1977 film, featuring Lennon,
Jagger and other stars playing themselves as old men, was scrubbed when
Yoko Ono read Lennon's horoscope and advised that he should not
participate.
Everyone agreed that while having a good relationship offstage is
important, it's worthless unless they get the onstage performance.
Pennebaker commented that it's easier to teach "musicians to work a
camera than it is to get cameramen to understand music." It's a question
of understanding, he continued, giving the example of the Hendrix
footage at Monterey. Festival organizer John Phillips had given him a
heads up, telling him that the at the time relatively unknown guitarist
"'would set himself on fire,' so you bet I had one camera on him the
entire time." He pointed out that the entire Hendrix performance was so
riveting that it was captured in one shot, with very few cutaways.
Joanou laughed at that story, explaining he had a very difference
experience on Rattle And Hum bringing in professional camera operators,
giving them set lists, and re-lighting and staging U2's entire show.
Then, the first night of scheduled filming, "Bono changed the setlist,
and we ended up with nothing. I had about 11 medium shots of Bono and
nothing else." Needless to say, he approached the band members (who were
also the film's producers) and told them "not to pull that sh-t again."
While the filmmakers' comments were interesting, the real thrill was
seeing footage from the classic documentaries projected on a big screen
with crystal sound. The raw, immediate quality of performances the
Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Hendrix, Dylan and the Who begged the
question if it was possible for any modern band, so conscious of image
and worried about ruining a million-dollar franchise, would allow itself
to be seen in equally unfiltered, unmediated fashion. Joanou and
Lindsay-Hogg despaired, with the former being especially emphatic in
blaming MTV. Julien Temple and Penelope Spheeris said their next films,
focusing on the punk movements in London and Los Angeles 20 years on,
will prove it can still be done. Pennebaker added he had no doubt, but
it will be on "a small and quiet scale, as it should be."
After the conference, the filmmakers mingled with the audience. Mel
Stuart, the director of the wonderful but little-seen Wattstax, said the
reason the film isn't available on video is due to licensing problems.
"You've got some 20 artists, all with their own agenda, It's a
nightmare." But, he laughed, the film was plagued with problems from the
beginning. The planned climax of the film was Isaac Hayes performing his
then-current hit, "Shaft." But Jim Aubrey, then the head of MGM,
wouldn't allow the song to be used. Since it was the only song from
Hayes's set he had shot, Stuart (incredibly, also the director of Willy
Wonka & The Chocolate Factory) had to bring Hayes onto a soundstage and
shoot another song.
-- Steven Mirkin, Los Angeles
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