Re: Led Zeppelin In The Movies

[Michael Gilson <tangerineman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Many moons ago, when I first started posting to alt.music.led-zeppelin ("Does 
Anybody Remember Usenet?!"), the first thread I ever started was "Who should 
play the members of Led Zeppelin in a biopic?" We got a lot of fun answers 
(James Spader as JPJ came up more than once... I couldn't really see it, but 
there you go).

As for the director, an obvious choice for many people would be Cameron Crowe. 

A less obvious choice is Mike Figgis, best known for "Leaving Las Vegas." The 
reason being that he's also a musician and composer, and, unless I'm very much 
mistaken, a Zep fan. He's also done some offbeat experimental films like "One 
Night Stand" and "Timecode," so his approach to the material would be 
out-of-the-box, which I think would be important. Zep were mavericks; the 
director of their biopic should be too.

Figgis also directed an episode of the TV documentary series "The Blues," 
titled "Red, White and Blues," which featured Beck, Clapton, Jack Bruce, Mick 
Fleetwood, Davy Graham and Bert Jansch, John Mayall, Steve Winwood, Chris 
Farlowe... So he knows his stuff.

The directors you mention, Frank, are all fine filmmakers, but to me are too 
mainstream, for want of a better term. Except for Ang Lee; he's shown he can 
tackle anything and put a singular stamp on it, whether it's gay cowboys, 
Woodstock, The Incredible Hulk or Jane Austen... He would probably be a damn 
good choice, the more I think about it!

> This raises the question: Who would be best qualified to direct/produce a
> film about Led Zeppelin?
> 
> Off the top of my head;
> 1) James Cameron
> 2) Peter Jackson or
> 3) Ang Lee ( the director of "The Life of Pi")