How much of the initial worldwide fan concept made it into the final film? And is the rest of it going to be on a DVD after?
DA: There was ultimately the whole Israel portion, there were two fans that we profiled in Israel and that’s not in the film. And there was a guy that we shot in Napa, California who was not in the film. It would’ve been a very different film, obviously for different reasons, but we still had to incorporate the bands journey, Randy’s journey and sobriety and all that stuff like that would’ve always been a part of the film. But all of that stuff is definitely still around and it will be on the DVD. At this point we have almost 2 hours of extra content that will be on the DVD for the film.
Would you recommend As the Palaces Burn to people who are not fans of metal or Lamb of God?
JC: I think that that’s the cool thing about this movie, that is does do that and that there is an important story to tell that may help people who had preconceived notions about heavy metal and people that are involved in it hopefully that may dispel some of those misinformed beliefs.
How would you sell the film to someone who isn’t necessarily a fan of metal or Lamb of God?
DA: I would say check out some of the other work these guys have done and you’ll know that they’re great at what they do.
JC: Unfortunately and unfairly, there are all these genres in film. When you’re talking about narrative film, there’s comedies, there’s thrillers, there’s dramas, there’s horror. But when you talk about documentaries there’s one thing – it’s a documentary. There are obviously subsections of that, but everybody lumps things into a documentary. All a documentary means is that its real life, or hopefully is (laughs) in the context of most documentaries out there. The secondary part of that is that if they’re about music, then it’s a “rock doc” or a “music doc,” and those labels are not helpful, because all they do is they put things in boxes that they don’t belong in, and people make up their mind about what it is before they see it. You can’t get around the idea that this is a film that centers around a band, and if it’s about a band, it’s going to have a music element to it.
But our story itself plays out like a drama, it plays out like a thriller, there’s a courtroom drama aspect to it, there’s an anthropological aspect of it, in terms of seeing how this type of music has a far reach in the world. At the end of the day, the thing that draws anybody in to any kind of film is that you care about the people in it, it has a human element to it. As much as it’s a tragedy, it’s also how people have to deal with it and how they do that’s the value of the film. Hopefully it does reach past the heavy metal audience, and certainly Lamb of God’s fan base. Searching for Sugar Man is a great example. If you’re going to try to appeal to Rodriguez’s fans around the world, there’s very few of them, but the story transcends him as his music it becomes more of this mystery unraveling and it has value because it’s a great story. I think this is the same thing, it’s just a great story. When the label “rock doc” is thrown on things, it feels almost that it’s not substantial, like it’s about the music, and the history of the band and that’s a shame, because it’s not any of those things and hopefully people will look past. If they’re not a fan of heavy metal or Lamb of God, people can find something to enjoy about this film.
What are some of your favorite music documentaries?
JC: Some Kind of Monster is great. It gives you an inside look at how the biggest band on the planet works. Flight 666 is a good one I think that guy’s name is Sam Dunn. He’s a really good film maker. He’s put out a lot of really cool music documentaries that aren’t your typical rock docs.
DA: John, you left out Last Days Here that was your opportunity to plug (laughs) (ed note: Argott directed the excellent Last Days Here, a documentary about Pentagram).
JC: I haven’t really watched that so I wouldn’t know (laughs). Everyone’s fans of Don and, if you go to Netflix, you can find it there.
DA: I thought Some Kind of Monster was amazing and I really like it for reasons the filmmakers and band didn’t intend because I thought it was actually pretty funny and I don’t think it was necessarily intended to be funny but I definitely really enjoyed that film. I really enjoyed Anvil: The Story of Anvil, I thought it was a great kind of buddy film and the kind of power of sticking with your dreams. I thought that was a great film and Gimme Shelter if you want to put that in the rock doc category and it has some similarities in tone to As the Palaces Burn.
