One day after the 44th anniversary of their split, the trailer for the first-ever authorized documentary on Led Zeppelin has arrived.
Titled Becoming Led Zeppelin, the documentary has been in the works for some years, with director Bernard MacMahon helming the project following the success of his 2017 exploration into U.S. roots music, American Epic.
Featuring the participation of the three surviving members – singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist John Paul Jones – the project was taken to Cannes in 2019, at which point it was noted as being in the post-production phase.
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“When I saw everything Bernard had done both visually and sonically on the remarkable achievement that is American Epic, I knew he would be qualified to tell our story,” Page said at the time.
“The time was right for us to tell our own story for the first time in our own words, and I think that this film will really bring this story to life,” added Jones.
Hype for the project first gathered steam when a work-in-progress version was screened at the Venice Film Festival, receiving a 10-minute standing ovation. MacMahon later noted that the team behind the film has spent “years designing this film to be experienced on the big screen with the best possible sound.”
Such meticulous attention to sound detail is vital for a project of this caliber, which follows the group – including late drummer John Bonham – as they rise up through the British music scene in the 1960s playing in small clubs. It follows them to a fateful rehearsal in 1968 that changed the course of their careers and culminates in their first tour of America in 1970 as they ascended to rock superstardom.
Led Zeppelin ultimately split on Dec. 4, 1980 following the unexpected death of Bonham just months earlier. Now, almost 44 years to the day since their dissolution, the official trailer for the upcoming documentary has arrived, complete with previously-unheard archival interviews with Bonham himself.
Soundtracked by 1969’s “Whole Lotta Love”, the trailer features visuals of the band’s kaleidoscopic career, interspersed with recent interviews with surviving band members. “The first time we played together, it was stunning,” Bonham says at the end of the trailer. “It was like a gift from heaven, wasn’t it?”
“We spent five years flying back and forth across the Atlantic scouring attics and basements in pursuit of rare and unseen film footage, photographs and music recordings,” writer-producer Allison McGourty said of the film’s production in a press release. “Then we transferred each piece of media with custom techniques, so that in IMAX, these 55-year-old clips and music would look and sound like they came out of the lab yesterday.”
Becoming Led Zeppelin is set for release in IMAX cinemas on Feb. 7.
