Led Zeppelin: the exams for the director of “Becoming Led Zeppelin”

The British director Bernard Macmahon he knew that convincing the surviving members of the Led Zeppelin To accept a documentary on their band would not have been easy.

“It was incredibly likely that once I had made a phone call, the group could have said she was not interested,” Macmahon admitted during a recent conversation with The Guardian. “There was the possibility of not even getting a meeting.”

But this was not the case and Jimmy Page (the most active on the project) accepted the idea and also the meeting, where, with the director’s surprise, the great guitarist arrived with the shopping envelopes in his hand. “I wondered if he had brought sandwiches,” Macmahon admitted, before remembering how he presented his concept of “Page”Becoming Led Zeppelin“Using a storyboard.

When he arrived at the part of the narrative in which Page and Plant met for the first time, the guitarist asked Macmahon in which group he played at the time. “Hobbstweedle,” replied Macmahon. “Very well,” Page confirmed. “Continues”. While Macmahon continued to prove that he knew well everything about the Zeppelin, Page “opened the shopping bags to show that he had brought his old diaries, dating back to the 1960s”.

The guitarist agreed with the film, but there was still a test to be done.

A few days after their meeting, Page called Macmahon and asked him: “Would you like to go to Pangbourneins together?”. The small village occupied an important place in the history of Led Zeppelin, as Page’s floating house served as the first rehearsal room of the Led Zeppelin. The director and his partner, Allison McGouty, accepted the invitation and visited the place with Page. “Later, Page revealed that it was a test,” McGouty said to The Guardian. “If I said no to Pangbourne we wouldn’t have made the film.”

In the end, Page, Plant and Jones agreed to participate in the documentary. John Bonham is also present thanks to recovered radio interviews. “It acts as a narrator,” McMahon explained about the deceased drummer. “His interviews were recorded immediately after things had happened. Jimmy said that in some ways he is the protagonist of the film because it is at the moment.”

“Becoming Led Zeppelin “ will be distributed in Italian theaters from February 27th to March 5th as Special event.