Foo Fighters: Back And Forth is released on DVD this week. If you’re a fan of music and a good story, then seeing Foo Fighters: Back And Forth is essential viewing. ChinaShopMag got to hang out with the film’s director James Moll on the Universal Lot where his office is tucked behind the legendary Phantom of The Opera soundstage (oh it’s legendary alright! And possibly haunted). Hearing him speak about the art of film, it’s clear that James Moll loves his job! Which is handy when you make movies for a living.

When he first started working on the lot, he told me he’d take his lunch up to the Psycho house on the hill and eat it sitting on the porch, watching the tourists roll by on the Studio Tram. It’s a lovely view from up there he tells me. Today on our impromptu walking tour of the Universal Studios lot, Moll is posing for photos in front of the CSI set on stage 24. A Tram rolls by, and they start snapping fervently perhaps mistaking the director for a star of the crime scene show. Moll is working on his EGOT, so far nailing a few Emmys and an Oscar. The former for Best Documentary Feature for The Last Days in 1999. EGOT stands for Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony. Tracy Jordan has one on 30 Rock. If James Moll keeps it up, he’ll have his EGOT soon enough.

How did you come to do a Foo Fighters documentary? It’s so different from your previous projects.

I’ve been making documentaries for years. Most of them have been historical documentaries, and I was ready to do something very different.

Coincidentally, [producer] Nigel Sinclair saw a film I made called Inheritance about the daughter of a nazi perpetrator. He asked to meet with me, hoping that we might work together one day. He knew I wanted to do something completely different and asked me “Do you like the Foo Fighters?” And I said “Of course! I love the Foo Fighters.”

The next thing I knew, he set up a meeting with Dave Grohl. We sat in Nigel’s office. That meeting went on for about 3 hours. And the next thing you know, I’m filming the Foo Fighters!

Were you familiar with the Foo Fighters before you started making the film?

Are you kidding? Of course I was familiar with the Foo Fighters before I started making the film. I’ve been a fan of the Foo Fighters a lot of years.

Interestingly though, I had never heard them play live. So I was in their studio filming them during their pre-production of the album and it was interesting because they were playing and working out their new songs for the new album and I was thinking, “This sounds fantastic. Just record it. It’s done. I don’t understand what this whole rehearsal part is about.”

And of course we got to film a concert at the Roxy. They’re really great live.

How many hours of footage did you cull through to make this movie?

We had about 1000 hours of archival footage, which is footage of the past 16 years of the Foo Fighters. Then we shot somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 hours, but that’s because we had multiple cameras in some cases, like at the Roxy concert. And when filming [during recording] the album, we were filming with 2 cameras. I mounted one remote camera above the mixing board because the room was so small above Dave’s garage. It was a lot of footage to edit together in a short amount of time.

There’s no way to watch it all. We had to split it up with our editorial team. Everybody watches a section. We knew what the story [direction] was because we’d structured it based on the band interviews. That was important to me: to have the film be about the Foo Fighters, as told by the Foo Fighters, rather than featuring a lot of interviews with a lot of other people. I was able to structure the story of the film and the history of the film because they were the ones telling the story.

And they were telling the history, and they were all telling the same story. So we were able to intercut their interviews, and then we would go back to the archival footage and figure out what we needed to piece into the story.

It’s a good time in the career of the Foo Fighters to tell their history. They have a strong history behind them but they also have a strong history ahead of them. History to be made.

How long was your first edit?

The first assembly of the movie was about 4 hours. I thought of the Tom Petty film that is over 4 hours and I thought, “Hmmmmm, maybe we have the makings of an epic documentary.” But I like to think that it’s epic in another sense, even in one hour and 40 minutes.

There were a lot of great moments that I wasn’t able to put in the film because the film would’ve been 10 hours long if I’d put in everything that I liked.

Like the interaction with the band members, and the rehearsal process, the pre-production process as they call it, where Dave would be coming up with writing songs on the spur of the moment. We filmed Dave playing the songs for Butch Vig when Butch first came to work with them at Dave’s studio and was hearing the songs for the first time.

Everything throughout that process, all the way to the finishing of the recording, to me was fascinating. And as a musician and someone who is interested in the music business, I was fascinated by everything. I could’ve made a much longer film. There were a lot of smaller just fun moments I hope to include as extras on the DVD so people can see at least a small bit of what we captured that didn’t make the film.

Ah! The DVD release! The fruits of your labor.

I’m excited about it. There’ll be a blu-ray and the cinematographer did a great job. Our whole team did. We had a great editor. Great team.

We had a good time making it too. Much like the Foo Fighters and their whole recording team became a family making the album, I feel the same thing happened for us as a film making team. Very much like a family working around the clock. We had a great time. really had a great time. When you’re working on a project that you love, the late night hours and the weekend work is more than tolerable. It’s fun.

Is there an impactful moment in the film that moves you to tears every time you watch it? A priceless moment that moves you?

There are a lot of powerful moments in the film. I didn’t film the concert [footage] at Wembley Stadium in 2008, but I think that’s one of the most powerful moments in the movie. It’s really a climax in the story telling of the film, so I think that’s one of my favorite moments.

I really enjoy seeing the camaraderie and the band working together in recording of the album and having family around and Dave’s daughter comes in and interrupts the recording session. Those are priceless moments that we captured.

A couple people ask me if we set that up, which is shocking to me, because I would never think to set up scenes. In my documentaries, we don’t set up scenes and write scenes. Perhaps people are jaded because of “reality” television. They expect everything is set up today.

But nothing in the film is set up. We were just there following them for many days. Things happened as they happened.
When I first met with the band, I said. “I need to record you talking, so you need to wear microphones, and then ignore us. I want to be a fly on the wall, pretend that we’re not here, do what you would normally do.”

And for the most part, that’s exactly what they did. That’s why we were able to capture such great moments. Not only with the band, but with their families as well.

For someone who hasn’t seen the film, but might want to, why would you suggest the Wembley scene?

It’s really a climax if you look at the history of the Foo Fighters. And how they began, where they came from and their performance at Wembley Stadium infront of 85,000 people in some ways really symbolizes success, for lack of a better word. An achievement. Attaining the goal that perhaps Dave wondered if it was ever possible. That’s probably a better way of saying it than simply success. It must be hard to start a band and wonder. It could fail at any moment. And that’s why to see that many people at Wembley Stadium for the Foo Fighters. and just the Foo Fighters, was very powerful.

Also Dave’s response [to the crowd], to see that Dave was visibly moved. And aware. Despite the fact that he’s doing the performance of a lifetime, in front of tens of thousands of people, he had presence of mind to be grounded and enjoy the moment. To take in the moment. And to understand and to appreciate what he and his band had achieved. A lot of people would miss that moment, I think, be caught up in the performance and what they’re doing. He really took it in. And that’s impressive.

Did you also say you’re also a musician?

Yes. I had to decide between film school and music school. I had applied to various music schools before I ended up deciding to go to USC film school and chose the path of film making instead of music. So basically I make all of my composers lives miserable when I’m making films.

How’d that decision work out for you? You won a few awards, I believe.

A few. I feel very fortunate. I am very fortunate.

Documentary film making Is great if you want to be passionate about what you’re doing in life. Not necessarily so great if you want to make a good living in life. I’ve been fortunate to be able to work as a documentary film maker and not wait tables on the side. Although I have done that.

What’s your next project?

I have an opportunity to do something different. My next project is going to be a scripted film. Which is a first for me.

Who were some of your classmates at USC?

I think I’m the only one who has gone into documentaries. When I was there, I went to school with Stephen Sommers (The Mummy movies), Jay Roach (Borat, Meet The Fockers), producer Suzanne Todd (Austin Powers, Momento, Alice In Wonderland), and my cinematographer who I worked with since film school on every film that I’ve done, Harris Done. A lot of good people have come out of USC.

Would you recommend USC as a good place for budding young filmmakers?

Yes. I think you learn a lot in film school. Practical information. But it’s only as good as what you do immediately following film school. And working and making films at all costs. I started as an intern. And when my internship ended I volunteered to stay on and continue to work because too many people would leave their internships and they’d never hear from anybody again. It really is what you make of it. I interned for producer Lauren Shuler Donner [St. Elmo's Fire, Pretty In Pink] just after graduating from USC, and then I stayed on and worked for awhile and then she offered me a job to the assistant of a director [Francis Veber] of a feature film she was making and I learned a lot from that director and took it from there.

Then I met Steven Spielberg and one thing led to another, and here I am. I’ve been on this lot ever since. I started working here in ’94 with the creation of the Shoah Foundation. I’ve worked with Steven to create the Shoah foundation and co-ran the organization for about 3 and a half years. A lot of history on this lot.

FOO FIGHTERS: BACK AND FORTH is available now on iTunes.

June 14 – Blu-Ray Exclusively at Best Buy, DVD Available Everywhere

Preorder the package from the Foo Fighters store and get this cool limited edition White Limo shirt (totally worth it, btw, that shirt rocks!):

Words and photos by Lisa Johnson