'It Might Get Loud' slated for December release on DVD, Blu-Ray

Coming this December to DVD: the film documentary showcasing Jimmy Page's and two other guitarists' affection for, and personal encounters with, their electric instrument.

"It Might Get Loud" was still opening theatrically in some U.S. markets this month, but Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced a new way for enthusiasts to catch the movie. Beginning on Tuesday, Dec. 22, it will be available for purchase on the DVD and Blu-Ray formats with a collection of bonus features.

Sony says the press conference held at last year's Toronto International Film Festival will make it onto the new releases. During that September 2008 press conference, Page and his costars and fellow guitarists, Jack White and The Edge, fielded questions about the movie.

Page, who is an associate producer for the film, has already described some scenes not included in the film that could be destined for the home releases. He told Billboard magazine earlier this year, "There'll be some extra stuff from the summit," referring to the scenes that document his interactions with the others. "There'll be some extra stuff from the summit, that's obvious. I know there's another number I did. There was a lot that was played at the summit, that Edge did, I'm sure, and Jack."

Update: Sony now states deleted scenes will be included on the DVD and Blu-Ray. Also, the Blu-Ray is to include "an interactive playlist where you can bookmark your favorite songs featured in the film" as well as a special feature called BD-Live, which "connects you to access real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and more while watching the movie."

The movie shows the initial gathering of the three guitarists, as filmed in January 2008, and their jam sessions on their own songs such as "In My Time of Dying," "I Will Follow," "Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground" and "Whole Lotta Love." The movie also shows a reflective Page as he arrives at the mansion Headley Grange about 37 years after he first recorded Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album there.

Jimmy Page recasts his life story in 'It Might Get Loud'; echoes of Les Paul observed in another flick also showing in New York this week

Reminders of the late Les Paul permeate anything having to do with modern music. The 94-year-old guitarist and multi-track recording pioneer is remembered in two new music documentaries that premiered in New York City, coincidentally the day after his death.

In "It Might Get Loud," associate producer Jimmy Page employs a unique opportunity to relate some of the key stories of his musical career. His two co-stars are as mesmerized with Page as they are forthcoming with stories of their own formative moments.

Meanwhile, "Rock Prophecies" focuses on recent developments in the life of longtime rock photographer Robert M. Knight. For more than four decades, he has lived to capture still images of little known bands and artists who would later become the world's most seminal figures in rock music. In the '60s, his subjects were Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Knight, in the film, says he collects rock stars. His shots of ZZ Top, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, Panic at the Disco and many more are highlighted in the film.

In both movies, electric guitar features prominently. It is the central muse of "It Might Get Loud," which director Davis Guggenheim has described as "a love letter to the electric guitar." The instrument figures no less in "Rock Prophecies," where Knight's discovery of blues guitarist Tyler Dow Bryant at age 16 gives way to a turning point in the unfolding plot as Knight champions and courts the youngster to some of his formidable connections in the music world.

Knight, in his narrative asides and on-screen encounters, peppers "Rock Prophecies" with anecdotes about the musicians he's photographed. In one scene, he passes on to the young band Panic at the Disco some insight he attributes to Robert Plant: that the more successful you become, the lower the quality of the people you meet.

In "It Might Get Loud," numerous witticisms and observations come straight from the artists themselves in personal revelations by Jack White, The Edge and Page. When Edge asks Page what songs from his '60s studio session work in London he would recognize Page's uncredited playing on, the elder guitarist names one, Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" and immediately relates a story about the recording session. Edge follows up and asks if Page played with the Kinks, and the elder guitarist ends up saying yes but the reports of his pervasive contributions to them have largely been exaggerated.

While White discusses how unpopular it was to play any musical instrument in his native town and Edge recalls the impact the punk music movement and violence in his Irish homeland had on his music in U2, Page talks moviegoers through every phase of his career prior to and including Led Zeppelin. As a visual backdrop is a showcase of many still photos of Page as a youth.

The film may not have many new revelations for the ardent Zeppelin fans who have ingested the liner notes of every box set to the point of memorizing dates and facts, but this film may possibly represent the most accessible way for fans of rock music in general to learn, directly from Page, about his direct line of progress from his early road work to art school to his session days to the Yardbirds and, finally, Led Zeppelin. While playing an instrumental version of the recognizable "Ramble On" for the cameras, a cleverly placed voiceover from Page demonstrates the concept of "light and shade" in Led Zeppelin's music.

If "It Might Get Loud" is a love letter to the electric guitar, it is also a tribute to Les Paul. "Rock Prophecies" is a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan and a love letter to Knight's mother, who is living with Alzheimer's disease under his care. Touching moments in "Rock Prophecies" make the film suitable for all audiences with a heart.

"It Might Get Loud" is playing daily in New York at the AMC Empire 25 and the Landmark Sunshine Cinema through at least Aug. 20. It is also showing in Los Angeles. Further theatrical release dates in U.S. locations have been scheduled through October.

"Rock Prophecies" is playing daily at the IFC Theater near New York University through Aug. 20. It will also show Aug. 27 in Aspen, Colo., and Sept. 5-6 in Seattle, Wash. Click here for more details.

Jimmy Page and Jack White discuss future plans, video games at L.A. press conference

Reuters and the New Musical Express are reporting on a press conference with Jimmy Page and Jack White that took place this morning in Los Angeles. Both are in town for the city's film festival and tonight's premiere of "It Might Get Loud" there.

Both stories carried a humorous quip from White on whether he might consider playing again with Page, such as on the solo album White is rumored to be embarking on. "I think Jimmy needs to practice a little more," he commented. Yeah, he was joking.

The Reuters coverage carries more interesting remarks from both guitarists on the way music is presented to today's youth. For instance, neither thinks video games are very useful for musical practice.

White said, "That's like the only outlet now, that you have to put [your music] in a video game to get it in front of [kids]. That's a little sad."

Reuters carried a long, candid remark from Page about amateur musicians setting out to imitate their heroes:

"If you start with the first track on the first (self-titled Led Zeppelin) album, 'Good Times Bad Times,' and you think of the drum part that John Bonham did there, how many drummers in the world can actually play that? Let alone Dad on a Christmas morning? There might be a lot of alcohol to be consumed over Christmas, he still ain't gonna get it."

Interestingly, as the NME story tells us, Page pointed out that both he and White, and also their third co-star, The Edge, are all self-taught guitarists.

The film premieres in L.A. about an hour and a half from the time of writing.

Update: Getty Images and the Associated Press have photos of Page and others at the premiere. Also, the video below is from a Q&A session at the L.A. film premiere.

Jimmy Page hobnobs with Jack White in Los Angeles in time for film premiere

Two days before the first public screening of "It Might Get Loud" in Los Angeles, at least two of the film's stars were in town. It is likely both Jimmy Page and Jack White will stick around long enough for the Friday evening screening of their film, taking in the flick yet another time before its widespread theatrical distribution in August.

Don't expect a full reunion of the three guitarists starring in "It Might Get Loud." Unlike at the world premiere in Toronto last year, when all three attended and participated in a public question-and-answer session, this time, The Edge is in Barcelona, where he is with the rest of U2 preparing for the 360 tour, which is set to open in less than two weeks.

Page's frequent traveling companion, photographer Ross Halfin, details the events of the June 14 flight they shared into Los Angeles on his blog. Halfin then discusses the concert he and Page attended at the Roxy last night.

• The band was the Dead Weather, which consists of Alison Mosshart on vocals and Jack White on lead guitar and occasional vocals. An L.A. Times blog by Ann Powers mentions Page's presence at the show, saying he "was the show's most whispered-about attendee." Luckily for Page, the blog says, his "It Might Get Loud" co-star didn't fail to "invoke" (might she mean "evoke"?) Led Zeppelin during the hour-long set.
• The Dead Weather is scheduled as tonight's musical guest on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien." Their album, Horehound, is expected to drop July 14.
  

Anyway, Halfin says he and Page had barely just arrived in Los Angeles when they ran into Roger Daltrey of the Who. In Halfin's words, the singer "wasted no time in badgering Jimmy to play at the Teenage Cancer Trust next March. Jimmy didn't say no, so you never know." Indeed, this 2010 charity event would be a welcome addition to Page's invisible concert schedule, seeing as he is nearing the halfway point of this current year with only one in-concert appearance under his belt.

There's been no mention of how long Page would remain in Los Angeles or what the purpose of his visit, so assuming he'll attend tomorrow's "It Might Get Loud" showing is just a logical conclusion. However, if he's still around through the weekend, perhaps Page would pad up his sightseeing itinerary with another concert. Led Zepagain is one tribute band Page has watched in approval and solidarity. It's possible that on Saturday night, he may head over and watch the tribute act again at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, which was the scene of four consecutive nights with Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper sharing the bill 40 years ago.

Also, there is that gong of John Bonham's that seems to be in town past its expiration date. Imagine stuffing that in the overhead bin on the flight back!

One last thought: Gee, I hope Jimmy gets a chance to listen to the nightly installments of "Get the Led Out" on 95.5 KLOS. The program, for which I write and consult, just debuted in Los Angeles last week and is now airing at 7 p.m. Pacific time (10 p.m. Eastern). Those of you not in the area can tune in on the Web site to listen live, or check with your local classic rock stations to see if they already "Get the Led Out" with Carol Miller.

Rare Zep footage included in guitar documentary's trailer

What happens when three generations of guitar heroes meet?

"Probably a fistfight," predicts Jack White, on his way to an arranged guitar summit with The Edge and Jimmy Page.

This comical prediction comes courtesy of a newly released trailer for the feature film "It Might Get Loud," which heads to theaters this August.



The trailer cuts to a scene with Page shot on location at Headley Grange, known to Led Zeppelin fans as the place where many of that group's songs were recorded. At the bottom of a staircase, Page names off one of them, "[When the] Levee Breaks."

The shots, in this film directed by Davis Guggenheim of "An Inconvenient Truth" success, bring this mythical and storied mansion to life for a mass of Zep fans who have never seen inside it before.

Just as this comes to life, Page says memories are coming back to him, and the shot changes to home footage I haven't ever seen before. Probably from 1971, Jimmy Page is shown wielding a guitar in a garden, presumably on the grounds of Headley Grange, with a dog relaxing on one side and an energetic Robert Plant bouncing around on the other side.

The trailer later cuts to a glimpse of Page playing air guitar, as has been explained before, to his recording of Link Wray's "Rumble." Get a load of the library of records behind him! This was filmed at his home, which video crews are said to have never been allowed before.

The trailer begins and ends with White building his own makeshift guitar -- "Who says you need to buy a guitar?" -- but also includes a moment of three-way laughter as Page treats the two agape and onlooking guitarists to a personal performance of "In My Time of Dying."

No fistfights are apparent in this trailer!

Guitar documentary with Jimmy Page to screen at L.A. Film Festival

The much-talked about "It Might Get Loud" guitar documentary starring Jimmy Page is part of the upcoming Summer Showcase just announced for the Los Angeles Film Festival taking place next month.

Ten other films round out the Summer Showcase's full lineup, and they will compete for three audience awards: Best International Feature, Best Narrative Feature, and Best Documentary Feature.

Details on individual film screenings have yet to be announced, and movie tickets will go on sale to the general public on May 29. First, festival passes will go on sale to the general public on May 18. The festival takes place June 18-28.

"It Might Get Loud," directed by Davis Guggenheim, has previously been screened at film festivals in Toronto and Berlin and at Sundance. The L.A. Film Festival would mark the flick's second festival appearance in the United States, where it is scheduled to open in theaters on Aug. 21. It is also to be distributed to other countries this summer.

As portrayed in the movie, a soundstage in Los Angeles provides the setting for the arranged first-ever meeting of Page and fellow guitarists The Edge and Jack White. The three guitarists jam on the songs "I Will Follow," "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," "The Weight" and "In My Time of Dying."

In other segments, Page is shown creating and performing original pieces called "Embryo No. 1" and "Embryo No. 2." The film crew also follows Page to Headley Grange, the mansion where parts of three Led Zeppelin albums were recorded. There, Page discusses the recording techniques used on the songs "Stairway to Heaven" and "When the Levee Breaks."

Update, May 14: The reel is also headed to Australia's Sydney Film Festival, to be held June 3-14. Tickets are already on sale.

Guitar documentary starring Jimmy Page to compete at Berlin Film Festival

A new guitar documentary starring Jimmy Page is now among films set to compete in the Berlin Film Festival next month. "It Might Get Loud" has been selected for the competition at the festival, which begins Feb. 5 and spans 11 days. Variety's Ed Meza reports:

"The main section will unspool 26 films. Among those, 18 will contend for the Golden and Silver Bears, while eight will screen out of competition."

Tickets to the film's only two screenings at the Berlin Festival, scheduled for Feb. 10 and 11, are to become available Feb. 2. There will also be two screenings in Berlin affiliated with the European Film Market, on Feb. 7 and 11.

As previously reported by LedZeppelinNews.com, "It Might Get Loud" documents the first meeting of three generations of guitarists, including Page with Jack White and The Edge.

Following the film's screening at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this month, Blake Wood writes for the Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph that "It Might Get Loud" was his "personal favorite" among the documentaries:

"Though Sundance is known for its politically, socially and environmentally conscious work, my personal favorite was 'It Might Get Loud,' by Davis Guggenheim ('An Inconvenient Truth'). The creative spirits of three master electric guitarists, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), the Edge (U2) and Jack White (White Stripes) radiate, as they wax eloquent about inspirations and jamming together in this elegant film."

It was previously announced that the film would be slated for international distribution in theaters beginning around August, through Sony Pictures Classic. The Nashua Telegraph article inaccurately mentions a DVD release of the film around that time, while a press agent for the film confirms that a theatrical release is planned for August instead.

In the movie, the three guitarists jam at an arranged "summit," performing U2's "I Will Follow," White's "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," the Band's "The Weight" and Led Zeppelin's "In My Time of Dying." The sight of the three of them playing that Zeppelin song left an impression on Guggenheim, who says in a Q&A:

"What I love about this movie, and what makes it so unique, is how the scale will change from Edge alone in his studio late night - to the three of them jamming on a Led Zeppelin track together with the volume full blast and the cameras capturing every angle."

The film also contains the first new music from Page aired publicly since 1999: a pair of instrumentals called "Embryo No. 1" and "Embryo No. 2." Viewers also watch as Page turns tour guide at Headley Grange and recounts what it was like to record Zep's fourth album there, and how they mic'ed up John Bonham's drums.

The movie made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, with a screening attended by all three guitarists. White attended the film's U.S. debut at Sundance.

Sundance Film Festival to include Jimmy Page guitar documentary's U.S. premiere

The guitar documentary "It Might Get Loud," starring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White, is set to make its U.S. premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next month.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Thomas Tull and others, the film makes its second festival appearance following its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. It is destined for wider distribution next summer, having recently been purchased by Sony Pictures Classics.

"It Might Get Loud" successfully unites Page, White and Edge for the first time, as the film's official Web site explains:

"While each guitarist describes his own musical rebellion, a rock 'n' roll summit is being arranged. Set on an empty soundstage, the musicians come together, crank up the amps and play. They also share their influences, swap stories, and teach each other songs. During the summit Page's double-neck guitar, The Edge's array of effects pedals and White's new mic, custom built into his guitar, go live."

Sony describes "It Might Get Loud" as "a musically and visually uplifting love letter to the electric guitar told through the experiences of these three major figures across three generations of rock 'n' roll."

Back to the official Web site:

"The musical journey is joined by visual grandeur too. We see the stone halls of Headley Grange where "Stairway to Heaven" was composed, visit a haunting Tennessee farmhouse where Jack White writes a song on-camera, and eavesdrop inside the dimly lit Dublin studio where The Edge lays down initial guitar tracks for U2's forthcoming single. The images, like the stories, will linger in the mind long after the reverb fades.

"'It Might Get Loud' might not affect how you play guitar, but it will change how you listen."

What's particularly notable about this film for Jimmy Page enthusiasts is the fact that it contains new music from him, created on screen. He had gone all decade, from 2000 on, without releasing any original material -- a point he addressed in an interview with David Cavanagh for Uncut magazine earlier this year: "That doesn't matter!" said the guitarist. "No! What does that matter?"

The Sundance announcement arrived Dec. 4 by way of a press release pertaining to films that to be screened at the festival that are not taking part in the competition.

Despite its seemingly Led Zeppelin-related title, another film slated to run at Sundance has nothing to do with Led Zeppelin. There's a film called "Over the Hills and Far Away," directed by Michael Orion Scott, that "chronicles the journey of the Isaacson family as they travel through Mongolia in search of a mysterious shaman they believe can heal their autistic son." Again, it has nothing to do with Led Zeppelin; I'm sorry I mentioned it.

The festival runs Jan. 15-25 in Utah. Ticketing information is available here, and other information about the festival is available here.

Update: It Might Get Loud is now scheduled for five screenings at Sundance. The first and second are on Jan. 16, at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. The other screenings are on Jan. 17, 18 and 24.

Sony to distribute guitar documentary starring Jimmy Page next summer

Movie theaters in many parts of the world are hereby warned: In the summer of 2009, it might get loud.

That's right, a theatrical release has finally been announced for the guitar documentary "It Might Get Loud," starring guitarists Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge.

An announcement released this afternoon says the film was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics for distribution in North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Sony said it intends to "open the film next summer."

The documentary was directed by Davis Guggenheim, best known for his directorial role for the Academy Award-winning "An Inconvenient Truth." It has been screened three times to date, all during the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Sony Pictures Classic says in a press release:

"It Might Get Loud" is a music lover's dream. The film covers three generations of guitar players (The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jack White) and our plan is to attract the three generations of fans when we open the film next summer. We are pleased to be in business with director Davis Guggenheim and producer Thomas Tull, whose obsession with the subject has brought so much to the high quality of the film.

"We are very proud of the film and impressed that Sony Pictures Classics has shown the same passion for the project," Tull said in the statement.

Denials begin to surface on reports of Led Zeppelin tour without Robert Plant

Some reporters, following up on rumors of a possible Led Zeppelin reunion in the works with Robert Plant being replaced, are saying they are being told that is not what is going to happen.

OK, now pay attention. What exactly are they being told is either not possible or hasn't been confirmed?

Jason Gregory, who has been pursuing Led Zeppelin reunion rumors for Gigwise, writes that he obtained such a statement when speaking on background with a source connected to American singer-guitarist Jack White. The source, said to have spoken on condition of anonymity, told Gregory, "I do not believe you can have a band called Led Zeppelin, singing Zeppelin songs, without Plant."

Gregory writes that the comment was designed by White's camp to distance the singer from speculation that he could be taking Plant's place in a reunited Led Zeppelin. That's one way of looking at it. Another way says that a band could be in the works that would not be called Led Zeppelin.

Anonymity was also invoked when MTV News reporter Chris Harris had an insider address the issue of a reunion, as he reports. Harris writes that "a source close to Led Zeppelin" denied press reports of a Led Zeppelin reunion with Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge on vocals instead of Plant. As quoted in the news item, the source tells Harris, "They are just rumors. Nothing has been confirmed at all. There's been no talk of a Zeppelin tour!"

Harris seems to interpret that as a denial of Kennedy's involvement in rehearsals with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham. The reporter seems to dismiss the idea of the Alter Bridge singer joining the members of Led Zeppelin based on it being such a remote possibility and utterly far-fetched.

Harris first doesn't realize that the insider who gave him that quote could have been more accurately identified as a source close to Page, a source close to Jones, a source close to Bonham, or whatever the case may be. Led Zeppelin isn't a working band per se, so its people are working with the individual people who were members of that band when it existed. R-r-right?

In the same way, the source's comment that there is "no talk of a Zeppelin tour" has the same ring to it as the statement from White's camp to Gigwise. A band could be forming with Kennedy or White on vocals, and that much of the rumor would be true. But the rumor can be dismissed as false because they're addressing the possibility of that resulting band being called Led Zeppelin.

Hmmmm. I'm seeing a pattern here. Ask about a band called Led Zeppelin with a singer other than Plant, and you get the answer that it's not going to happen.

Then what about the crux of the rumors, that Page, Jones and Bonham have been doing something together to bide the time while Plant was unavailable? Take your band called Led Zeppelin out of the equation, and you might be on to something!

Maybe these reporters ought to go back to their respective sources and ask the question over again but this time not attach the name Led Zeppelin to it. See if the answer changes!

Incidentally, Harris of MTV News also notes that "Kennedy is not available for a five-minute phone interview." He even tried to contact the people surrounding Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider, who last week was shown online explaining that Kennedy had been rehearsing with Page, Jones and Bonham and would be singing on tour with them if Plant did not want to. No call back from Snider's folks, Harris writes.

An interview with Plant and Alison Krauss aired this weekend on the CBS News program "Sunday Morning." It was recorded over a month ago, while the two were in New York on their tour, and it included Plant blowing off a question about whether he would reunite with Led Zeppelin.

When asked the question, Plant first jokingly attempted to change the subject by commenting on the look of interviewer Katie Couric. He then provided the answer that a Zeppelin reunion was so far from his mind while touring with Krauss that he didn't even have the time to ponder the idea.

Since then, Plant issued a statement in the tour's closing days that he would not participate in a Led Zeppelin reunion tour or any tour, or even record with Led Zeppelin, for the next two years.

U.K. coverage of Led Zeppelin's award inspires word of the week: 'gong'

In U.K. reports, I keep seeing the word "gong" used as a synonym for "award," as in "Led Zeppelin received the Outstanding Achievement gong at Tuesday's GQ awards ceremony."

Evidently, this is like a trolley or a lift: They mean different things over there compared to how they're used on my side of the Atlantic.

Maybe I deserve a gong myself since I figured this out from context clues.

Here's one example from the print media. A small GQ write-up here quotes both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant on the frequency of awards throughout their career.

Page says:

"In our day we never got any."

Plant invokes the magic word, adding:

"The thing is, when the temples get grey, the gongs start coming in thick and fast."

You said it, man. Long live the gong!

On a completely different note, the first review I've seen trickle in from the world premiere of the guitar documentary "It Might Get Loud" in Toronto a few hours ago says this:

"Could this movie possibly live up to the hype? My friends, this movie lived up to everything I thought it would be ... and then turned it up to eleven."

Read the whole piece here.

Could a gong be in the future for Davis Guggenheim? I've already quoted Bob Thompson of the National Post here, who foresees an Oscar.

Jimmy Page expected with guitarist co-stars at film premiere, afterparty in Toronto

Jimmy Page is used to glitz and glam, but two big red-carpet affairs in one week?

The Led Zeppelin guitarist, who just turned up in London on Tuesday to receive a GQ award recognizing his band's Outstanding Achievement, is said to be partaking in festivities tomorrow night in Toronto as the new feature-length documentary starring him opens in a limited festival run.

The buzz is building about "It Might Get Loud," and adulation has already surfaced in Canada's National Post newspaper. Critic Bob Thompson predicts the 97-minute documentary "will get a documentary Oscar nod for Davis Guggenheim's history of the rock guitar as told and played by three generations of rock 'n' jagermeisters."

The film is scheduled for three public screenings during the Toronto International Film Festival, including its world premiere tomorrow at 9:15 p.m. at the Ryerson Theatre. The three guitarists featured in the film -- Page, The Edge from U2, and Jack White of both the White Stripes and the Raconteurs -- have all been mentioned as attending.

Their plans are also said to include an afterparty, the National Post reports. "Jimmy Page, Jack White and U2's The Edge are all expected at the south-of-Bloor party that's planned following the Friday night airing here of Davis Guggenheim's electrically-charged guitar doc It Might Get Loud," it says.

This would make the premiere and afterparty some of the hottest tickets in town, rivaling only perhaps those of star-studded Coen Brothers' latest big-screen submission.

After the premiere of "It Might Get Loud," the film is to move to the AMC 6 for its two other arranged screenings: on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. and on Sept. 13 at 12 noon.

Currently, no distribution has been arranged for the film beyond these three showings associated with the festival. LedZeppelinNews.com will report on any changes to this as they are announced.

Writer Thom Powers, in the film festival's official Web page about the documentary, says Guggenheim provides viewers with "intimate access to the creative process" of each guitarist, individually, before they meet for the first time to trade stories and influences -- and, of course, to jam.

Jimmy Page in film listed for first public screening on Sept. 5

The documentary "It Might Get Loud" -- which stars Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page alongside newer-generation guitarists The Edge and Jack White -- is now listed to premiere on Friday, Sept. 5, as part of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim, the movie is scheduled to have three public screenings at the festival. All four of the big names connected with the film -- its director and three guitar-toting co-stars -- are expected to attend, according to a press release.

Details newly gleaned from the festival's official Web page on the film reveal that the cameras roll as "Page visits the stone halls of Headley Grange where 'Stairway to Heaven' was composed." In separate segments, Edge and White also take viewers to locations connected to the musical creativity of their respective pasts, namely Dublin and Nashville.

A previously unseen shot, believed to be a still from the movie reel, shows the three performers jamming together. The movie has been said to capture footage of the first-ever meeting of this trio of guitarists.

Page said in an interview earlier this year that new music of his would appear in the documentary. Word is that the film contains original material from the U2 guitarist and the White Stripes/Raconteurs axeman as well, highlighting the creative processes and technical prowess of all three individually.

Showing times and locations during the festival may be obtained here.

Page, Jones and Foos to DVD; separate film with Page to get Canadian screening

The special guest appearance by Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones onstage at a Foo Fighters concert last month is to be included on a DVD now set for release this August in the United Kingdom. Footage culled from the American group's two-night stand at Wembley Stadium in London, including the double encore of "Ramble On" and "Rock and Roll," already hit U.K. movie theaters this month for a limited run. The Foo Fighters DVD may also be included as part of an updated greatest hits package listed for later release worldwide.

Meanwhile, a documentary described as containing Page's first time meeting fellow guitarists Edge and Jack White is set for its world premiere this September at the Toronto International Film Festival. All three guitarists are supposedly depicted creating new music separately and then jamming together in the film, titled "It Might Get Loud." This latest picture from acclaimed director Davis Guggenheim was previously mentioned as set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival but was not screened at that time.

Jimmy Page says new music to emerge in documentary

The most pressing revelation in the May 2008 issue of Uncut magazine, which contains interviews with the three surviving original members of Led Zeppelin, is Jimmy Page's claim that new music of his would appear in a film documentary.

The magazine says Page "has recently been filming a documentary with Jack White and The Edge." It quotes the Led Zeppelin guitarist as saying the film features "three generations of guitar players."

If Page has indeed written original material, it would be the first to be issued in 10 years. Addressing that point in an interview for Uncut conducted March 10 with David Cavanagh in London, the guitarist says, "That doesn't matter! No! What does that matter?"

After suffering a back injury in the middle of an aborted U.S. tour with the Black Crowes in the summer of 2000, Page's onstage appearances were rare. While the past 10 years have seen Page overseeing releases of a long-awaited DVD set of live Led Zeppelin and a newly remade version of the 1976 film The Song Remains the Same, Page's scant, one-off in-studio collaborations of the same period have all been of cover tunes.

Only during a live performance for the massive charity event Net Aid in 1999 could Page be seen debuting unreleased material in a live setting. An instrumental, titled "Domino," was introduced to a listening public in a set broadcast globally on television and via satellite.

Cavanagh reflects in the interview on 1998, the last time Page worked with Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant on any permanent basis. That year, they released an album of all-new material and went on tour in North America and Europe, playing mainly tunes from the first five albums of Led Zeppelin's catalog with a few of the newer numbers thrown in for good measure. Scheduled tour dates for Pacific nations and South America were suddenly canceled at the end of that year.

In subsequent interviews, Plant has held that he had been longing to do something different. Page, on the other hand, rarely fields questions on why his four-year collaboration with Plant came to an end. Probed by Cavanagh in this interview, Page admits "there could have been a follow-up" disc. "I had some new material written for another album," he details. "I had about a dozen numbers, and some of them were really good, but Robert heard them and he wanted to go in another direction. He wanted to do another solo album. Fair enough."

Plant, interviewed Jan. 18 by Allan Jones for Uncut, also addresses the work he and Page did with each other between 1994 and 1998, before he played anonymously in a band called Priory of Brion and thereafter returned to his solo career backed by a new lineup called the Strange Sensation, which backed him on the 2002 solo album, Dreamland. In this interview, Plant speaks at great length about his long relationship with Page. "He was my buddy, he will always be my buddy," says Plant, who was 19 years old when they first met in 1968.

Plant addresses how he felt about Page right from that very first encounter, in which Page submitted an idea that the young singer from the British Midlands might make a good fit in the band being assembled with John Paul Jones and a drummer yet to be named. "I felt immediately this was a different kind of guy to anybody I'd met before," Plant tells Allan Jones. "So I was welcomed into Jimmy's home, and immediately I realized that his interests and the whole landscape of his music and his life was very broad and pretty esoteric."

Plant speaks eloquently of his time together with Page in studios and in the quaint, somber settings where they worked together to write some of Led Zeppelin's most beautiful acoustic songs. "As a couple of guys, we really, we sat by the fire at night, and I've still cassettes somewhere of the old grandfather clock ticking," he says. "There was no electricity, outside toilets, the smell of woodsmoke and alcohol."

But it was at a certain point, Plant reveals, that Led Zeppelin became unworkable for him. This he attributes partly to family obligations; he says he found it less possible to do justice to being a globetrotter as well as a homebody. "I wasn't upset with Jimmy," Plant says. "I didn't become remote. He didn't become remote. We'd both just moved to another place."

He also recognizes Page's suffering health played a factor: "Later, when Jimmy's health wasn't too good, it wasn't the same ... it was a different time." The interviewer asks Plant whether Page's heroin use was having an effect on Led Zeppelin. "I think that with most users," Plant replies, "the denial is part of the condition, and because most everybody around was in one way or another denying something, there was no central point of solidarity. ... I still think that by that time Jimmy and I had become quite adept politically at keeping it going, even though I felt very compromised. I also felt for him, you know."

Asked about that time they played together between 1994 and 1998, Plant implied Page may not have been in the best of health at that time either. He was comparing Page's health in 1994 with his impeccable health at the time of the one-off Led Zeppelin concert on Dec. 10, 2007. "If Jimmy had was as healthy then -- and when we came to do Walking into Clarksdale -- if he'd been as open and as healthy, and he'd had the resolve then that he has now, we'd probably have gone somewhere else again."

Plant, who has been readying for a tour with Alison Krauss that will begin in two weeks, appeared glad to spend much of his Jan. 18 interview for Uncut discussing Page. Many of the questions Cavanagh hurled at John Paul Jones in their session 10 days later also focused on Page.

Says Jones, in an interview that took up only one page compared to the three devoted to either of his counterparts', "I know it sounds obvious, but [Jimmy] was always one of my favorite guitarists, and as soon as we started rehearsing [in May 2007 for a planned reunion concert], I was amazed to hear go he'd actually improved. He seemed to have grown since I saw him last."

The last time Jones and Page were known to have played music together was also with Plant, during a jam session following Led Zeppelin's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in January 1995. At the time, Page and Plant were off on a Zeppelin-heavy tour that famously did not involve Jones. "Thank you, my friends, for finally remembering my phone number," was the overlooked bass player's short jab at his former bandmates during a brief acceptance speech, given just before the three awkwardly strapped on instruments together for the first time in about five years. An abridged set, also involving Neil Young and Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Steven Tyler, followed.

At that time, Jones was upset at not having been asked to take part in the Page-Plant reunion and, worse, not being informed of it in advance. "I wasn't particularly glad for anybody at that point," he tells Cavanagh in the Uncut interview, dismissing those feelings as a thing of the past. "It was quite a hard time for me. But we're past it, if you know what I mean."

Now, Jones is uncertain whether Plant would be available to work with him or Page once again. "I'm not sure. I'm not too certain about anything, right at the moment," he says. "I've got no idea what's going to happen. But I'd certainly like to play with Jimmy again."

Jones says he was happy to perform the two-hour set with Page, Plant and Jason Bonham in London this December. "That we did a full Zeppelin show ... albeit a short one, at two hours ... [Jimmy] was very happy. [He] probably [felt] similar to what it meant to all of us, which is: It's nice to be able to do it, to prove to yourself that you can do it."

He again addresses the concert: "It was great to do the show. [Jimmy and I] spoke afterwards, and we both thought the same -- it felt like the first night of a tour. You think, 'Oh, I could do that a bit better, or change something in that song.' And we didn't get a chance to do any more."

Jones, in the Jan. 28 interview, seems unable to comment definitively about the future; asked if he believed the reunion was over, he said, "It's possible. It is possible." Page, grilled on March 10, was unwiling to speculate on whether or not Plant would be willing and able to continue the Led Zeppelin reunion. Evidently annoyed by repeated questioning, Page interrupts Cavanagh to say, "That's as fair an answer as I can give you."

Page was interviewed one week after a report in the Sunday Mirror on March 2 said Plant had turned down a lucrative offer for a Led Zeppelin tour. When Cavanagh brings this up and asks about the chances for any further reunion activity, Page deflects the question, saying the band members never intended to do more than just that one-off concert, which was a tribute to their late mentor and friend, Ahmet Ertegün of the Atlantic Records label. "The focus," Page says, "was the O2 show. That's what I had my focus on. As for Robert, he had a parallel project [with Alison Krauss], and it's been successful, which I suppose means he doesn't have time for Zeppelin at this point. What I do know -- what I do know -- is that the rehearsals, and the O2 gig, were really inspiring. OK? That's all I'll say."

Upon further questioning, Page adds, "Everybody had such a great commitment to it. Now, if you're talking about a tour -- other dates, maybe recording together -- there's only one thing that's going to be the common denominator with that. And that's commitment. That's how we did the O2."

Getting back to the future that is more certain, Page says he is ready to unleash some of his new material on a public that hasn't heard any original songs of his in the new millennium. "I know what is really challenging, and that is the sort of direction that I personally -- personally -- intend to go," he says. Of the music he has been writing, he says, "They're the sort of vehicles and frameworks that could be applied [or] used in various situations. I might have one thing that could be just as easily recorded with an ethnic drum orchestra as with a rock 'n' roll band. Do you see what I mean? Or you could play it acoustic. It's the application of it. But I'm ready. I'm ready, now, to present the stuff that I've got."