‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ Directors Interview About 7-Hour Jimmy Page “Exam”, More

The founders of Led Zeppelin have been reluctant to speak about their work throughout their careers. So the two-hour documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin is a landmark of material, especially because it was made with the participation of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

Director Bernard MacMahon recalled passing Page’s screening process to get him on board.

“That first meeting was seven hours long and it was almost like an exam,” McMahon said during a panel at Deadline’s virtual Contenders Documentary event. “He would throw in questions to make sure that we knew our stuff.”

As an example, MacMahon recalled Page finding singer Plant performing at a small venue in the Midlands.

“He said, ‘What was the name of Robert’s group that he was playing in when I first met him?’” MacMahon said, correctly answering Obs-Tweedle. “There was another question about dates.”

Page had brought archival materials to the meeting. It was a good sign when he decided to share them with MacMahon.

“He went to these bags he’d brought by the door, poured the contents over the table, and he’d come with all his diaries going back to 1963,” MacMahon said. “That meeting could have lasted 20 minutes or an hour and those bags would never have been opened.”

MacMahon credits his preparation with passing Page’s test. It began when he read a paperback book about the band from the mid-‘70s when he was 11, before he’d ever listened to them. The story of their formation and success in the face of disinterested record labels and hostile press inspired MacMahon that their preparation paid off.

His previous movie with co-writer and producer Alison McGurty, American Epic, also prepared them for finding rare material. That documentary was about the beginning of sound recordings.

RELATED: Contenders Documentary — Deadline’s Complete Coverage

“We like making films where there hasn’t been a film about the subject before and there is very little archive when you start,” MacMahon said.

For Becoming Led Zeppelin, archivist Sam Rapallo located a rare recording of drummer John Bonham giving an interview for Australian radio. It took six months to confirm the recording and locate the original to transfer, but when they did, it moved even Page and Plant.

“So it was the first time they had heard their fallen comrade speaking in 40 years, and he’s talking about them and what he thinks of just meeting them.”

Check back Tuesday for the panel video.