Bernard MacMahon is an Irish-British filmmaker. His American Epic films are widely considered as the definitive portrait of a musical era, and one of the best music documentaries ever made. Bernard was born in England and grew up in South London. He developed an interest in early American cinema at a young age[9] and was shooting and editing 8 mm short films by the age of 12. MacMahon said “America has fascinated me since I was a child. My big love is American cinema, especially early American cinema, and I’ve always been fascinated by that period in the 20s when the technology and artistic language of film was being invented.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from wor. Here again is Larry
Minty with the WOOR Saturday Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
There's an amazing documentary out this weekend that I got
a chance to see. It's called Becoming led Zeppelin. It's
all about the birth of the legendary rock group led Zeppelin.
Bernard McMahon is the director.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Bernard.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Wonderful, wonderful job, excellent, congratulations.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Thank you very much, Larry. I'm deeply touched that you
responded to the film in that way. Yeah, it's definitely
made as a theatrical experience. This is a film that
was made from day one to go down with as
many of your friends as you can into the biggest
screen you can find, and you literally get transported into
(00:51):
those led Zeppelin shows in sixty nine. It takes you there.
This is not a movie for watching on your sofa
in your living room.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I am going to go see it in the theaters
after watching it on my computer, so only because I
had that exact same thought the performance video you have
and that you accumulated. It's spectacular. It's the early led Zeppelin,
some of it before they became the superstars they are
right now. So yes, yeah, and how did you get
(01:24):
I mean, these are some people that don't always like
to talk to the media or talk to filmmakers. How
did you get all the surviving members to speak.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
We've made a series of films called American Epic on
the first Blues and Country records it made in the
twenties and thirties, which is like everyone said to us,
it couldn't be done it where they were narrated and
produced by Robert Redford who supported us on it. And
so that when we did started wanting to do led Zeppelin,
(01:53):
and we put and we were putting this together. My
producing partner and writer Alison mcgaudy wrote this whole film
in advance. We tracked down archive on led Zeppelin, We
prepared in everywhere we could, and look, a couple of
people we chatted to said, you're absolutely insane. They're never
going to agree to do this, but we just swent,
(02:14):
we don't care. We're going to carry on and do it.
And then when we finished writing this whole thing, all
this work, we reached out then and amazingly when we
met John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Jimmy
and Robert were already big fans of American Epic.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And when we sent the DVD of American Epic to
John Paul Jones, he had made a pilgrimage to the
very first place in the in the very first scene
in the film, where the Carter family are from. So
it was like they knew what we were doing and
what we were about. And then when we when we
met with him, it was like, you know, these long meetings,
I said, five hours of John Paul Jones, maybe something
(02:53):
similar with Robert Plant and seven hours of Jimmy Page.
And he would ask these little trick questions likescho, I'm
talking to the storyboarding, and this is the point where
you meet Robert Plant for the first time and you go,
what was the name of the band he was in?
I'll be like obs tweedle and you'd be like, very good,
carry on.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So tested the entire time to.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. He wanted to make sure
you know that that this dude coming through him actually
knew the facts, you know, and I did. I'd memorized
it all and so so you know, and then and
then but you know, this is an amazing thing. Then
when they agreed to do it. They let us have
complete artistic control, you know. And so this film on
(03:35):
there is exactly the film that we wanted to make
that you see on the big screen. That's what we
wanted to make, and I just wanted to There's a
message in the film that's for now. And the message
is in the film, and this is for kids out
there and older people too, is that you can do
anything you want in this world. As long as you
(03:55):
just you stick to it, you follow your dreams, and
you work hard, and you just keep on at this thing,
you will get what it is you're looking to do.
Because we managed to do this with this film, you know.
And I said, there's nothing special about us. You know,
my producer, Allison is a lot more special. But I'm
(04:15):
just a guy that likes the film and likes making films.
But you know, I'm not the son of Steven Spielbog.
I'm not like some anointed thing.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know. But I do.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
But I do work hard. And that's the Zeppelin way.
When I've got an idea that I want to do,
I really work hard at it and I don't listen
to people that are going, oh, you can't do that.
I stick to my guns. And that's what anyone out
there listening can do with anything they want to do.
And this is the message of this film, is that
(04:46):
at these times where it's so difficult and you feel
that everyone feels under such pressure, led Zeppelin fans across
all boundaries, all religious, political, or whatever boundaries, there's led
Zeppelin fans, you know, that are drawn in by this music. Yeah,
and the message is positivity to them is like you
(05:07):
can you work with your your group of small group
of friends and you pull your efforts to be more
than some of the parts. And that's what the message
of the film is. And it's it's it's a musical,
you know, and you can watch it over and over
again and go on that trip, but that message is
at the core of it all.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, absolutely, and I got that.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I want to touch on the fact of how you
handle John Bonham, which I thought was absolutely brilliant and
some of some of the most powerful moments in the
documentary explain.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I wanted all of them to have a voice, you know,
because led Zeppelin is this is a film about collaboration,
and that's what the message is to the audience and
to myself as well.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I get that we're going to read a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
John Bonham basically is but John bon and Bassis. We
just searched the planet by the Mariana Trench to find
tapes of John Bonham and we ended up finding three.
And then his father, Jack Bonham, had kept given to
his John's sister all these eight milimeter footage of John Bonham,
and so between them we're able to have John for
(06:22):
the first time ever speaking in the movie. And when
we premiered it in California, this handsome young man walked
up and shook my hand and went, I want to
thank you. That's the first time I've ever heard my
grandfather speak. And it was Jack ob Bonham and son
who had died or after John was who was born
after John had died.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
That is amazing. Some of my favorite moments is when
you were showing the way you played this. You showed
the other members listening to it, and that alone was
powerful because you could see the emotion in their face.
And with that we do have to go. It was
a pleasure talking to you, man, director of the new
documentary Becoming led Zeppelin. If you are a music fan,
(07:05):
you have to go see this. It's in theaters tomorrow.
I loved it. I'm going to see it a second time. Bernard,
thanks for spending time with us.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Thank you so much. The theater is the only place
to see this.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Love you, yep, I agree with you. I can't wait.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Bernard McMahon, director of Becoming led Zeppelin.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
This has been a podcast from wor
This is a podcast from wor. Here again is Larry
Minty with the WOOR Saturday Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
There's an amazing documentary out this weekend that I got
a chance to see. It's called Becoming led Zeppelin. It's
all about the birth of the legendary rock group led Zeppelin.
Bernard McMahon is the director.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Bernard.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Wonderful, wonderful job, excellent, congratulations.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Thank you very much, Larry. I'm deeply touched that you
responded to the film in that way. Yeah, it's definitely
made as a theatrical experience. This is a film that
was made from day one to go down with as
many of your friends as you can into the biggest
screen you can find, and you literally get transported into
(00:51):
those led Zeppelin shows in sixty nine. It takes you there.
This is not a movie for watching on your sofa
in your living room.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I am going to go see it in the theaters
after watching it on my computer, so only because I
had that exact same thought the performance video you have
and that you accumulated. It's spectacular. It's the early led Zeppelin,
some of it before they became the superstars they are
right now. So yes, yeah, and how did you get
(01:24):
I mean, these are some people that don't always like
to talk to the media or talk to filmmakers. How
did you get all the surviving members to speak.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
We've made a series of films called American Epic on
the first Blues and Country records it made in the
twenties and thirties, which is like everyone said to us,
it couldn't be done it where they were narrated and
produced by Robert Redford who supported us on it. And
so that when we did started wanting to do led Zeppelin,
(01:53):
and we put and we were putting this together. My
producing partner and writer Alison mcgaudy wrote this whole film
in advance. We tracked down archive on led Zeppelin, We
prepared in everywhere we could, and look, a couple of
people we chatted to said, you're absolutely insane. They're never
going to agree to do this, but we just swent,
(02:14):
we don't care. We're going to carry on and do it.
And then when we finished writing this whole thing, all
this work, we reached out then and amazingly when we
met John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Jimmy
and Robert were already big fans of American Epic.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And when we sent the DVD of American Epic to
John Paul Jones, he had made a pilgrimage to the
very first place in the in the very first scene
in the film, where the Carter family are from. So
it was like they knew what we were doing and
what we were about. And then when we when we
met with him, it was like, you know, these long meetings,
I said, five hours of John Paul Jones, maybe something
(02:53):
similar with Robert Plant and seven hours of Jimmy Page.
And he would ask these little trick questions likescho, I'm
talking to the storyboarding, and this is the point where
you meet Robert Plant for the first time and you go,
what was the name of the band he was in?
I'll be like obs tweedle and you'd be like, very good,
carry on.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So tested the entire time to.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. He wanted to make sure
you know that that this dude coming through him actually
knew the facts, you know, and I did. I'd memorized
it all and so so you know, and then and
then but you know, this is an amazing thing. Then
when they agreed to do it. They let us have
complete artistic control, you know. And so this film on
(03:35):
there is exactly the film that we wanted to make
that you see on the big screen. That's what we
wanted to make, and I just wanted to There's a
message in the film that's for now. And the message
is in the film, and this is for kids out
there and older people too, is that you can do
anything you want in this world. As long as you
(03:55):
just you stick to it, you follow your dreams, and
you work hard, and you just keep on at this thing,
you will get what it is you're looking to do.
Because we managed to do this with this film, you know.
And I said, there's nothing special about us. You know,
my producer, Allison is a lot more special. But I'm
(04:15):
just a guy that likes the film and likes making films.
But you know, I'm not the son of Steven Spielbog.
I'm not like some anointed thing.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know. But I do.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
But I do work hard. And that's the Zeppelin way.
When I've got an idea that I want to do,
I really work hard at it and I don't listen
to people that are going, oh, you can't do that.
I stick to my guns. And that's what anyone out
there listening can do with anything they want to do.
And this is the message of this film, is that
(04:46):
at these times where it's so difficult and you feel
that everyone feels under such pressure, led Zeppelin fans across
all boundaries, all religious, political, or whatever boundaries, there's led
Zeppelin fans, you know, that are drawn in by this music. Yeah,
and the message is positivity to them is like you
(05:07):
can you work with your your group of small group
of friends and you pull your efforts to be more
than some of the parts. And that's what the message
of the film is. And it's it's it's a musical,
you know, and you can watch it over and over
again and go on that trip, but that message is
at the core of it all.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, absolutely, and I got that.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I want to touch on the fact of how you
handle John Bonham, which I thought was absolutely brilliant and
some of some of the most powerful moments in the
documentary explain.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I wanted all of them to have a voice, you know,
because led Zeppelin is this is a film about collaboration,
and that's what the message is to the audience and
to myself as well.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I get that we're going to read a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
John Bonham basically is but John bon and Bassis. We
just searched the planet by the Mariana Trench to find
tapes of John Bonham and we ended up finding three.
And then his father, Jack Bonham, had kept given to
his John's sister all these eight milimeter footage of John Bonham,
and so between them we're able to have John for
(06:22):
the first time ever speaking in the movie. And when
we premiered it in California, this handsome young man walked
up and shook my hand and went, I want to
thank you. That's the first time I've ever heard my
grandfather speak. And it was Jack ob Bonham and son
who had died or after John was who was born
after John had died.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
That is amazing. Some of my favorite moments is when
you were showing the way you played this. You showed
the other members listening to it, and that alone was
powerful because you could see the emotion in their face.
And with that we do have to go. It was
a pleasure talking to you, man, director of the new
documentary Becoming led Zeppelin. If you are a music fan,
(07:05):
you have to go see this. It's in theaters tomorrow.
I loved it. I'm going to see it a second time. Bernard,
thanks for spending time with us.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Thank you so much. The theater is the only place
to see this.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Love you, yep, I agree with you. I can't wait.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Bernard McMahon, director of Becoming led Zeppelin.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
This has been a podcast from wor
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