METALLICA: 'Through The Never' Filmmakers Interviewed By CRAVE ONLINE

On July 19, the members of METALLICA appeared at Comic-Con in San Diego, California to discuss "Metallica Through The Never", filmmaker Nimród Antal's captivating 3D movie featuring one of music's most enduring and iconic bands. The group was in Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center, joined by Antal; the star of the film, Dane DeHaan; and producer Charlotte Huggins.

While at Comic-Con, CraveOnline.com spoke with Antal and Huggins (pictured below) about "Metallica Through The Never". A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

CraveOnline.com: How much of the film is the narrative vs. the concert?

Antal: If I have to give you straight numbers, I would say about 1/4 of the film, 1/3.

Huggins: It's about 1/3 narrative.

Antal: About 1/3 of the film is narrative, but it's something that is interwoven with the concert, one influencing the other, so I can't really mathematically break it down.

Huggins: Also, it's important to know that the concert is part of the narrative, so it's not exactly like when you're in the concert; there's no story propelling you along because the concert is part of the story.

Would you actually break up some of the performances with scenes?

Antal: We've done both. We've done between songs, we've done during songs, we've done leading into songs, we've done leading out of songs. The editing process was just very loose as far as structure. It's a little bit difficult to explain if you haven't seen it quite yet.

Did you have a different approach to shooting the concert performances vs. the narrative scenes?

Antal: Yes. The narrative was approached in a classic way. I preferred single cameras, and of course when we had stunts we had multiple cameras running but it was approached in a very classic narrative manner. The concert itself was very much not that. It was, at certain times, 10 cameras running on everything from wire cams to cranes to classic dollies to steadicam operators. It was just this mix of different formats as far as capturing at least movement.

What else should we know about this story of "Through The Never"?

Antal: The story was created through a longer process of coming up with an original idea that was based in protest but ultimately it morphed into something much grander and much more intimate. That happened after meeting with members of the band and also with members of the crew that worked for the band and seeing their passion and their love for these guys and the fact that they're willing to really leave it all on the field. They're willing to bend over backwards to make it happen. Seeing how those people felt for the band was also a huge inspiration. I think life started to imitate art at one point because I think we were going through a lot of challenges making the film also. We were dying a little every day to make it happen.

Huggins: When we were first talking to them, they always said there's five members of METALLICA. There are the four band members and there are the fans. That's something that you really learn when you go to a METALLICA concert and you see the relationship of the band with their fans, particularly in the round show. The concert part of the movie takes place in a 360 arena where all the band members are walking around and interacting with the fans in a 360 stage. You really hear it, you hear the way the fans know the lyrics and the way that they understand and feel passionate about the music. Nim sort of took that initial idea of the fan and really enhanced it a lot by making him more than a fan. I think as you have said, Dan Brown was your inspiration for that. He's their stage manager. He has such a passion for the band. Actually, most of the people that work for METALLICA and around and with METALLICA feel that passion for the band. So Trip embodies that. The part that Dane DeHaan plays embodies the fan, embodies the partner of METALLICA.

Read the entire interview at CraveOnline.com.

Pictured below: Nimród Antal and Charlotte Huggins

"Metallica Through The Never" theatrical trailer: