  D.A.
Pennebaker in Paris |
| Donn Alan Pennebaker , Chris
Hegedus and Richard Leacock were in Paris in December 18th 1999,
for the end of a special festival called "Rock en scope" in Paris at the
cité de la Musique which showed most of the movies realized
and produced by D.A. Pennebaker like "Don't look back" with Bob Dylan , "Monterey Pop"' and of course "101" with Depeche Mode. "101" was presented to us last saturday December 11th 1999 on big screen, that was the right time to gather together some D.M. fans to have a "black celebration" and enjoy it fully ... |
| So during that interview with
Pennebaker , well he mentionned many of his movies, but i must admit that
DM came a lot of time in the interview's subjects (and the members
of Frenchviolation helped a bit to it also :)) ). One thing D.A. Pennebaker said it's that for all artists he made a video of, he was sure it was each of them big rock&roll events. |
| Then D.A. Pennebaker spoke
about Depeche Mode , he said when he met them he didn't even knew who
they were , his kids did though, so he wasn't sure of what DM was
in reality, he should have to listen to their records but D.A. Pennebaker
prefered to have their first sound through the lens of his camera , he
says he has always problems discussing talking with people, he finds it
more easy to do with a camera to get in relation with others. So during "101" he watched them perform in live and he was amazed by them ... Chris Hegedus knew more about the band and who each member was than Pennebaker did ... One thing Hegedus said is that when they make a movie they have always big respect to the musicians ... Pennebaker then said that in relation to Depeche Mode he started to like their music as long as he continued filming them , he loved the way they performed and acted as human beings, he think they are brave people, that they have a lot of energy when performing on stage. and that they're very good :)) |
| He said things like they didn't
deny things like one of the members used to have probs with his
mother because when they used to repeat they made noise with drums, and
he also said that one member admited he played so bad that sometimes his
keyboard was unplugged on their performances... (guess who?? ;) )
I asked D.A. Pennebaker if there was any special agreement about what they should record or not when they make a movie like the one with Depeche Mode. He answered me as well as Chris Hegedus that in the beginning of their career they never had any agreement. As for DM there was some sort of agreement made with the production but not with the band itself. |
| The band liked a lot what
he made with "101" and they even told that after viewing the film that
in fact the real heroes of "101" were the fans in the bus ,and it seemed
that the band kept close to some of them. |
| DM were involved in the mixing
of "101" so that the sound would get out the best. From Chris Hegedus we learned that the band did have all the rushes from "101" and they may still have a copy . |
| As for DVD it's not D.A Pennebaker
who decides to release it on DVD it's Warner/Reprise/Mute who have
the rights and who can decide of it that's it... |
|
Pimpf.
|
| for a full transcription & audio interview of the meeting with D.A. Pennebaker go to Frenchviolation website (click on the picture right under) |
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"Get your
kicks on the route 66..."
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