00:25This is Tim Wadsworth from Best Trek Uncertain TV.
00:28I'm here in New York City for the Tribeco Film Festival.
00:31I think one of my first actually interviews was for Billy Madison when I was at NYU.
00:39That's so funny.
00:40And it was funny because like Adam went to NYU, I know, and all that kind of stuff.
00:45But the fact that you did these videos during that time is insane.
00:52I know.
00:53Was it just like, you know, because it's like anything.
00:55Did you just, you know, were these just in the garage?
00:59It was just something that time forgot, you know?
01:02Yeah, it really was.
01:03It was something that time forgot.
01:05Yeah, because I had it and I didn't know I had it.
01:08Yeah, I just had, I have so much film.
01:10I filmed so many things over the years.
01:12And this one was just like, yeah, just a bunch of tapes.
01:15And I thought like, I knew I always had Beastie Boys footage because I always like grabbed my camera and
01:20filmed, you know, thinking one day they might need it for something.
01:23But yeah, on this one, I didn't know that I had shot everything else.
01:28Like I didn't know that I shot Foo Fighters and Rancid and Pavement.
01:32Like I didn't know I shot all that stuff.
01:34So yeah, so it was pretty surprising.
01:36That time of your life is obviously for anybody in that time of life.
01:39It's like a blur, you know, from that time.
01:44But, you know, I found it was very interesting, you know, with everything going on in your life at that
01:48time.
01:49But you also sort of created this really neat sort of dynamic between you and Kathleen.
01:54And obviously she went on to marry.
01:56I think it was she married.
01:57She married Adam, right?
01:58Yeah, yeah.
01:59Adam, yeah.
02:00So, I mean, you know, but there's such an ease with that.
02:03Was that just backstage?
02:05Was that just the mindset back then?
02:08I think it was one, and that's kind of where you started out.
02:11Like, you know, when you go to summer camp, the first thing you do when you're whatever, girls, I'm sure
02:16guys do it too, is like, who's cute?
02:18Like, who, you know, who's the cute guy?
02:21Who are you going to have a crush on?
02:23And Kathleen was single.
02:24And so I was like, oh, you know, that sounds fun.
02:27You know, who do we think is cute?
02:30And then, yeah, for her to find love on that tour was amazing.
02:33But I think it was more just for fun.
02:35Like, we, nothing was pre-planned or anything.
02:38Like, I think Kim Gordon and I both realized, like, we knew that Adam was kind of struggling in his
02:44marriage.
02:45And Kathleen was, we just, we had such huge crushes on her.
02:49We wanted her to be in our lives.
02:50So I think we just, yeah, tried to get them together.
03:23Well, because every single one of those bands, even when they, all of them didn't go on to parts of
03:29Asia, were very, very unique.
03:32I mean, you know, each individual one and how they responded.
03:35I mean, to see, I mean, I've talked to Dave a lot of times, but it's interesting to see him
03:41in that mindset, you know, because it's completely different, you know, than, like, obviously now, you know.
03:48Yeah.
03:49No, I think, like, just how beautiful and raw that interview is, is just, I just thought there was something
03:55really beautiful about that and unusual.
03:57And, yeah, and I made a decision not to cut the interview so it wasn't just, like, line, line.
04:02I really wanted you to feel what it was like to be in the room backstage with Dave, you know,
04:08and hear his pauses and hear his, you know, really feel that.
04:13And that's usually not what you see, you know, and I think, like, I have two boys that are 21
04:18and 23 and they were, like, my early, you know, people watching the film and they loved the non-editing.
04:26They were just like, mom, our whole world, you know, like, everything is so over-edited.
04:29We don't know what's real anymore.
04:31We really like feeling the, what it's really like to be in the room with these people.
04:55Finding the balance between those really cool sort of grungy, really rock moments that it shows, but then those quiet
05:03moments.
05:03I mean, you know, the, I think when the three, when the three guys are up in that room, it
05:10just feels like, yeah, you're, it's like a frat or it's, you know, you're, you're at school or something like
05:16that.
05:16And, but it's hard to, you know, because when you have a documentarian that's removed, you don't get sort of
05:22that.
05:22There's a trust.
05:23I think it was more, yeah, we, I just always had a camera and kind of, I was known as
05:28a director.
05:29I'd done a lot of videos.
05:30I'd done a lot of videos for some of the band members.
05:33So I kind of, I feel like it was normal for me to have a camera in my hand.
05:37And I was trying to show you, like, are just, I just thought it was so amazing that the Beasties,
05:43they, they all hung out together.
05:45Like when they, you know, when they hung out in the hotel rooms together, when we went on vacation and
05:50I was with all three of them, you know.
05:51And I just thought that their bond and their camaraderie was so beautiful and important to show.
05:57And you could really see their closeness and how they were best friends.
06:01And yeah, so when I saw all that footage, I was, yeah, you're not a journalist in the room or
06:06even a filmmaker in the room.
06:08You know, I just, I was another participant in the room.
06:11And you, and that's like kind of the key to a lot of documentary filmmaking is your access, your access
06:17to the people and how you can make people feel comfortable behind the camera and in front of the camera.
06:23So I just, I don't know, I feel like I just had that with everybody and yeah, and just, you
06:29don't, you don't really don't see that view, but you know, there's a lot of like hidden stuff in there.
06:34And the more you watch it, you're like, oh yeah, you, when you're in a band, you're not allowed to
06:38leave hotels.
06:39Like, and if you do, we had to like sneak out and run away and, you know, just what it's
06:43like to really be in a band on the road.
06:57But then taking that footage, because obviously, you know, the filmmaker, you know, at that time is a different filmmaker
07:03than you now, and cutting it is a much different thing, but you obviously still have that instinct.
07:09Can you talk about, you know, before it got to, you know, screening it for, for obviously your kids and
07:14everything, knowing what they would impact, but.
07:16It made like a really specific choice that, you know, I've been working in Hollywood for so many years and
07:21doing commercial projects.
07:22And my last two films, I was Netflix and then the film, and then the last film was Paramount Plus.
07:28And I love working in Hollywood and I love making movies and getting that opportunity, but, you know, with money
07:34comes notes, you know, and, and I just was like, I wanted to do something where I didn't have any
07:40notes.
07:40I just wanted to hear from the band and, you know, audience what they had to say.
07:45And so I decided to self-finance the film so that I had total control of the material.
07:51I also knew that none of these bands would, if like I got a note from Netflix, I couldn't do
07:57the note if these bands didn't, you know, unless I really believed in it or something, it would have put,
08:02pit me against, and the creatives against a corporation.
08:06And I, I just knew that that couldn't happen on this, that, yeah.
08:11And I, you know, I also had done documentaries a lot.
08:14So, you know, you say a line and then you cut and you give context and you say a line
08:17and you cut and you give context.
08:18And I just was thought that this was unique to just like be in the moment and be present there
08:24and not do that and make the kind of film that was a little bit more artistic.
08:30And I think in doing so, it really has the eye of a director.
08:34And I think that's the reason why I'm able to get into all these film festivals.
08:38It's so competitive these days.
08:40It's like tens of thousands of people submitting.
08:42And I mean, yeah, it's just, I think that that just really speaks to making sure when you're making a
08:50film yourself that as much as you can add to it of your voice and your, you know, that only
08:55you could have made this film.
08:57That's what really stands out nowadays.
09:24That's what really stands out nowadays.
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