Read Metallica: This Monster Lives Online
Authors: Joe Berlinger,Greg Milner
Tags: #Music, #Genres & Styles, #Rock
Metallica: This Monster Lives (54 page)
1
. Another odd thing about this particular moment, as you might have noticed in
Monster
, is that Phil repeatedly squeezes a tennis ball that he found rolling around in the back of Lars’s car. Was this some sort of subliminal suggestion, a subtle metaphor about Torben’s hold over his son? (The ball did come in handy. After the shoot, everyone walked down a hill to play a long-ball game of catch across a gully.)
1
. Four months later, while Megadeth was on a break from touring, Mustaine suffered an unspecified injury to his left arm and was diagnosed with radial neuropathy, or a severely compressed radial nerve, which left him unable to play guitar—even holding a coffee cup was painful. His doctors said he would need intense physical therapy for at least a year, and they weren’t sure how complete the recovery would be. In April 2002, unsure if he’d ever be able to play guitar again, Mustaine disbanded Megadeth after nineteen years. In the summer of 2003, he announced he was recovering well and working on a solo album.
1
. Reiter’s not just talking about “Nothing Else Matters”—he says the ballad backlash began with
Ride the Lightning
’s “Fade to Black.”
1
. Because we used two cinematographers, the first part of
Monster
, up to when James comes back, has a slightly different look than the rest of the movie. The material that Bob shot is generally more evenly lit and less claustrophobic than Wolfgang’s footage. We didn’t plan it this way, but the change in style worked very well thematically. The film looks darker and more constrained before James leaves and while he’s away, and then becomes lighter and more open when the band is together again.
1
. Although Jason, as you may recall, considered Phil’s presence to be “fucking lame,” Phil apparently had a higher opinion of Jason.
2
. The story of the bass players would take one more weirdly symmetric turn a few months later. After extensive auditions, Metallica picked Rob Trujillo, of Ozzy Osbourne’s band, to be their new bass player. A few weeks later, the world learned that Trujillo’s replacement in Ozzy’s band would be … Jason Newsted. So Jason found a way back from the dead, even if it wasn’t exactly the life he had had before.
1
. Cabbie hung around HQ for weeks but reportedly failed to mike Metallica properly the whole time, making all of his “behind the scenes” reports too inaudible to air.
2
. In the commentary Bruce and I recorded for the film’s tenth-anniversary DVD, we talked about how we still love that scene and can’t remember why exactly we decided to cut it.
3
. Fortunately, many of the babies will find a comfortable afterlife in the heaven known as DVD extras. The
Monster
DVD may well set a record for number of deleted scenes.
4
. Bob had been a member of the Payolas, a Victoria, British Columbia–based band that enjoyed a modicum of critical and commercial success, mostly in Canada, during the ’80s. The band still occasionally reunites to play shows and release new music. Bob also plays with a pickup band on Maui, where he lives.
5
. Although the judge was willing to take the unusual step of speaking to us privately, he unfortunately never acted on the information we’d given him.
Chapter 18. Their Aim Is Trujillo
1
. Everyone who appears in a documentary typically has to sign a release, a legally binding consent form that allows the filmmakers to use the footage.
2
. This is the only time that James ever exerted a direct influence over the content of
Some Kind of Monster.
3
. During Twiggy’s audition, the boys played a rousing rendition of “Napster of Puppets.”
4
. I can understand her shock. I’ve been surprised at how candid James is in interviews. He’s so forthright about his struggles that it sometimes sounds like he’s on a mission to tell everyone he can about what he’s been through and how he emerged a better man.
1
. This scene is another example of how digital video, by being cheap enough to allow for two-camera shoots, has transformed documentary filmmaking. Without a second
camera, we would have missed a lot of great reaction shots, and this isn’t the kind of scene that lends itself to “cheating” cutaways.
1
. When
St. Anger
was released, a rumor circulated that Clear Channel, the largest radio chain in the U.S., was instructing its stations not to play the album because of the jarring sound of Lars’s snareless snare drum. The rumor was almost certainly false, but for whatever reason,
St. Anger
did not exactly tear up the nation’s airwaves, despite those radio promos Metallica grudgingly recorded.
2
. One important difference between Lennon’s and Hetfield’s therapy experiences is that James went into group therapy with the rest of his band. Bruce likes to say that if the Beatles had submitted to Phil’s process, they might have stayed together a few more years.
3
. Bruce told me later that after the band concluded its conference call by deciding to buy the film, Lars turned to him and said, “Who do you love?”
1
. The breasts-in-Rob’s-face shot was the only thing Metallica ever asked us to take out of
Some Kind of Monster.
2
. True to his word, James did not see the film again until we made him watch it several weeks after its Sundance premiere.
Chapter 22. The End That Will Never End
1
. American Spectrum films are not part of the main competition and are therefore ineligible for jury prizes. When I asked why we’d been put in that category, I was told that because Metallica had paid for the film, it was inappropriate to put it in the main competition, since we—and therefore Sundance—might be criticized for practicing “checkbook journalism.”
2
. On the eve of
Monster
’s theatrical release in the summer of 2004, I spoke with Kirk and discovered that he had made copious notes about the film following the Skywalker screening and had made it a point to watch every subsequent cut so that he could give us suggestions, most of which he kept to himself. After a lot of soul-searching, he had ultimately decided that too many of his suggested cuts merely reflected his privacy concerns and could make the film less powerful. “I’m still struggling with it to this day,” he told me, “but I’m willing to sacrifice my privacy for the film’s overall positive message.”
3
. A few months later, when I told James about the photo, he told me that he and his wife had just returned from the Caribbean, where they renewed their wedding vows.
4
. We took questions after each screening. The only question that came up all three times was whether Dave Mustaine has been able to meet with James like he did with Lars. The answer, as of mid 2004, is no.
5
. Two days later, Mark Ordesky, the president of New Line, called to say the company was withdrawing its offer, which his New Line reps at Sundance apparently did not have the authority to tender. Ordesky said New Line was still interested in a service deal, but the film would still need to lose twenty minutes.
Reference in this book to Web sites or other resources as potential sources of information does not mean that the authors or publisher endorse anything that might be said there.
METALLICA: THIS MONSTER LIVES
. Copyright © 2004 by Joe Berlinger. Foreword copyright © 2004 by Bruce Sinofsky All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
“Temptation” written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Bob Rock © 2004 Creeping Death Music/EMI Blackwood Music (Canada) Ltd./Mahina Hoku Music Publishing. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
“One” written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich © 1988 Creeping Death Music. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Title page photograph courtesy of Annamaria DiSanto
Design by Alamini Design
ISBN 0-312-33311-0
EAN 978-0312-33311-9
eISBN: 978-1-4668-6696-6
First Edition: November 2004
First eBook edition: March 2014
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Living Monster
Some Kind of Numbers
2. Give Me Fuel, Give Me Fire, Gimme Shelter
Phil’s First Day
Some Kind of Monster
Early Warning
The Rock
9. The Boots That Kick You Around
The Unforgiven
Shooting the Monster
The “Fuck” Scene
The Lars Doctrine
The Joint
Editing the Monster
Too Many Bears
22. The End That Will Never End
Unleashing the Monster