Fans of the Reelin' and Rockin' movie series might recall our screening of the excellent documentary, "Color Me Obsessed, a film about The Replacements" by filmmaker Gorman Bechard. Well, as it turns out, the acclaimed film maker has set his sights on a new project featuring Columbus' own Lydia Loveless. He recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance his forthcoming feature, "Who is Lydia Loveless?"
Click here for the Kickstarter page and all kinds of interesting info about the project.
Gorman was kind enough to answer a couple of my questions about "Who Is Lydia Loveless?"
Colin G. - Previously, your movies have focused on iconic underground acts with long histories like The Replacements / Archers of Loaf and so on. How does your approach to a project change when the subject is a younger artist just starting to make a dent in this big mean world?
Gorman - Well for one, I can capture the making of a record as it's happening. But I tend to approach every film differently. How can I turn the genre on its ear? The normal VH1 rock doc formula bores me to tears. In this case I really want to show Lydia at work, how she writes, records, tours, deals with the inherent sexism of rock & roll, etc. And I definitely want her amazing sense of humor to shine through. People will not only fall in love with Lydia and her music, they will have a good time doing so.
Colin G. - Was there a single moment or song when it suddenly hit you that you had to make this movie? What pushed it over the edge from a crazy idea to actually making it happen? Can you pinpoint it?
Gorman - It was the first time I saw her live. It was just her and Ben. She was singing Verlaine Shot Rimbaud. The line about "I just wanna be the one you love." She stepped back maybe 7 or 8 feet from the mic, yet her voice filled the room. I was awash with goosebumps. And right then and there I knew. It was definitely a crazy idea. I really thought I would not make another rock doc, at least for a while. But I thought about it a lot. Never really mentioned it to anyone, until the next time I saw her live. We were talking outside while she took a smoke break. And I just sort of asked. She said sure. It all came together as simple as that.
Colin G. - If you could wave a magic wand what is your best-case scenario for this movie? What story do you hope to tell? When and where would you like to see it premier?
Gorman - I hope to tell a completely entertaining story about a young artist breaking through. The struggles, the joys, all of it. I want the world to fall in love with Lydia, because she really is the future, the hope, for rock and roll. She has The Replacements gene. I hope to capture the brilliant chaos of her live set. Well, I guess the obvious place to premiere would be SXSW. But we'll see.
Colin G. - Thanks Gorman and good luck. I cannot wait to see this movie.
Colin Gawel started Pencilstorm in his coffee shop and has spent his life playing with the rock band Watershed. To learn more about him or our other contributors please click here.
