SOUNDGARDEN Documentary Scrapped; CHRIS CORNELL Film In The Works

The previously announced SOUNDGARDEN documentary has been scrapped in favor of a film about the career of the band's lead singer, Chris Cornell.

Back in 2014, the team behind documentaries on RUSH, Alice Cooper and the history of heavy metal revealed that they were making a film on SOUNDGARDEN. Banger Films duo Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn were said to be working on the SOUNDGARDEN documentary with Canadian indie director Reg Harkema, who previously collaborated with them on "Super Duper Alice Cooper".

Harkema said at the time that his film would focus to some degree on the notion of SOUNDGARDEN "having these punk rock ideals and then dealing with becoming 'metal rock stars.'"

But in a new "Ask Me Anything" session on Banger TV's YouTube channel, Dunn revealed that that the SOUNDGARDEN documentary is no longer in the works. He explained (see video below): "We, unfortunately… We were in a long development phase with the band, and we put the call out to fans and people who love the band and had photos and memorabilia in their collection — things that we might be able to use for the film — but, unfortunately, kind of at the last minute, the one-yard line, if you will, the plan kind of fell apart. Not everyone in the band wanted to do the film. That's the crux of it. Now, we are — although it's not officially being announced yet, but I'll say it anyway — is we will be doing a Chris Cornell documentary, which I'm really excited about because, although one fourth of SOUNDGARDEN, this is a guy whose career is obviously a huge part of the SOUNDGARDEN story and vice versa. But also his story goes far beyond SOUDGARDEN, obviously with AUDIOSLAVE and then with his own solo project. So, in a sense, we will be telling, to some extent, the story of SOUNDGARDEN through Chris's film, but it will, of course, be about much more than that."

A couple of years ago, SOUNDGARDEN guitarist Kim Thayil spoke to Alternative Nation about the proposed band documentary, saying: "I haven't seen any footage yet, but we have a general idea, an outline. We imagine it'll be chronological, and maybe a bit autobiographical. [chuckles] I don't know, I haven't seen anything yet, but I imagine it'll be very good. The guys who I understand are working on it are fantastic; they make some great documentaries."

Banger Films' other documentaries include two on heavy metal, 2006's "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" and 2008's "Global Metal", 2010's "Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage" and 2009's "Iron Maiden: Flight 666", as well as the TV documentary miniseries "Metal Evolution".