Flight 666, the tour documentary that followed Iron Maiden on their acclaimed Somewhere Back In Time tour in 2008 is set to hit cinemas worldwide on April 21st, and Australian fans are lucky because while the rest of the world has to clamour into cinemas on that day, we have a week to check it out.
Leading up to the release of the film, one of the directors Sam Dunn had a chat with Undercover’s Tim Cashmere about touring the world with their heroes.‘Scot [McFayden, Sam's partner] had just managed to casually mention to their manager Rod in their e-mail “Well, maybe we can do a documentary on you guys,”’ Dunn said.
‘At first he suggested that they’re doing an album in 2010 and maybe you can do it around that, then the tour was announced and he said “the band would never go for it, the tour is going to be hard enough without you guys shoving cameras in their faces.” After a while though Rod called Scot on his cell phone and asked us to do it and from then it was all go.”
One of the exciting things about the film is that it’s the first time the band has ever given full access to a camera crew, and according to Dunn they actually had pretty good access.
‘There were a few instances where say Janick - who was probably the least receptive to doing a documentary - he’d push the camera away or pull the hood of his robe over his head as he was walking off stage,’ he admits. ‘The band themselves are enjoying this moment in their career where they’re having a massive surge in popularity all over the world. The fact that we didn’t face a lot of conflict or confrontation with the band on the road really shows how happy the band is with where they are today.’
The guys even risked life and limb getting between Maiden and the fans. ‘There is a point in the film when we pulled up in Buenos Aires in Argentina where we were at the hotel and the band arrived and the fans were nuts,’ Dunn explained. ‘Bruce equated it to night of the living dead. If he ever took the chance to leave a South American hotel all of these bodies would start coming out of the shadows. That’s the gaucherie of fame. You lose some of your privacy, but they know that the fans in South America are really going to give 110% and their pressure is to rise above that night after night.’
The filmmakers flew on Ed Force One, the plane piloted by Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson that flew the band all around the world. The tour kicked off in Mumbai, India before heading to Australia and then around Europe and the USA.
The end result is a spectacular grab of footage that isn’t just for Maiden fans, but a piece of musical history for everyone.
‘We shot over 500 hours of footage for the film. It was a huge chore to get it down to film to keep people engaged. We tested it by bringing in friends and colleagues who were not necessarily Maiden fans to get their opinions. We’d ask things like “Is this too self indulgent?” “Is there too much music?” It had to have enough music along with enough material of the band off the stage so that you can get a feel for who the band members really are. We didn’t want to convey them as just some rock stars.’
The film will be in cinemas on April 21 worldwide, and in Australia it will run for a week. Stay tuned for your chance to win tickets through Undercover.
