{"id":179882,"date":"2025-12-07T20:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T20:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/179882\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T20:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T20:26:07","slug":"becoming-led-zeppelin-directors-interview-about-7-hour-jimmy-page-exam-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/179882\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Becoming Led Zeppelin\u2019 Directors Interview About 7-Hour Jimmy Page “Exam”, More"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\n\tDirector Bernard MacMahon<\/a> recalled passing Page\u2019s screening process to get him on board.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat first meeting was seven hours long and it was almost like an exam,\u201d McMahon said during a panel at Deadline\u2019s virtual Contenders Documentary<\/a> event. \u201cHe would throw in questions to make sure that we knew our stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs an example, MacMahon recalled Page finding singer Plant performing at a small venue in the Midlands.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe said, \u2018What was the name of Robert\u2019s group that he was playing in when I first met him?\u2019\u201d MacMahon said, correctly answering Obs-Tweedle. \u201cThere was another question about dates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPage had brought archival materials to the meeting. It was a good sign when he decided to share them with MacMahon.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe went to these bags he\u2019d brought by the door, poured the contents over the table, and he\u2019d come with all his diaries going back to 1963,\u201d MacMahon said. \u201cThat meeting could have lasted 20 minutes or an hour and those bags would never have been opened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMacMahon credits his preparation with passing Page\u2019s test. It began when he read a paperback book about the band from the mid-\u201870s when he was 11, before he\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Contenders Documentary \u2014 Deadline\u2019s Complete Coverage<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe like making films where there hasn\u2019t been a film about the subject before and there is very little archive when you start,\u201d MacMahon said.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor 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.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSo it was the first time they had heard their fallen comrade speaking in 40 years, and he\u2019s talking about them and what he thinks of just meeting them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCheck back Tuesday for the panel video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The founders of Led Zeppelin have been reluctant to speak about their work throughout their careers. So the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[97993,6971,68437,97994,97995,97983,93,61,60,43638,17450,278,97996],"class_list":{"0":"post-179882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-allison-mcgourty","9":"tag-awards","10":"tag-awardsnews","11":"tag-becoming-led-zeppelin","12":"tag-bernard-macmahon","13":"tag-contenders-documentary","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-jimmy-page","18":"tag-led-zeppelin","19":"tag-music","20":"tag-sony-pictures-classics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}