English rock group Led Zeppelin posed sitting on car bonnet during their first photo shoot for WEA … More
The rock documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin — featuring Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham — is now available to rent for significantly less on digital streaming.
Directed by Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty, Becoming Led Zeppelin opened on IMAX screens on Feb. 7 and expanded to regular theaters on Feb. 14. The official summary for the documentary reads, “Becoming Led Zeppelin explores the origins of this iconic group and their meteoric rise in just one year against all the odds.”
Becoming Led Zeppelin arrived on digital streaming via premium video on demand on April 4 for $24.99 to purchase and $19.99 to rent for a 48-hour period. As of Tuesday, however, viewers for rent Becoming Led Zeppelin on PVOD for $5.99 for 48 hours. The film also has a reduced digital purchase price of $19.99.
Becoming Led Zeppelin is available to rent or purchase on a variety of digital platforms, including AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Prime Video and Spectrum.
‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ Includes Rare John Bonham Interviews
Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham formed Led Zeppelin in 1968 and the band, of course, went on to record such hard rock classics as “The Immigrant Song,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Black Dog,” “Houses of the Holy,” “Kashmir” and “Stairway to Heaven.”
However, since Becoming Led Zeppelin was about more than the music, directors Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty — while having access to Plant, Page and Jones — had their work cut out for them when it came to finding interviews with Bonham, who died tragically at age 32 in 1980.
MacMahon told Vulture in a February interview that the filmmaker searched endlessly for archived interviews with Bonham. And while some interviews with the drummer were unearthed on tape but unusable because they were copied over several times, the director told Vulture that their search eventually led to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
After an extensive search, the NFSA discovered about 90 minutes of unheard Bonham interviews from Australian radio station Sydney 2SM circa 1971.
“He was always commenting on useful things that the rest of his bandmates hadn’t talked about,” MacMahon told Vulture. “He was the one who talked about how nobody wanted to book the band in their home country.
“And at the end of the film, he lets the viewer know that they barely know each other,” MacMahon added. “He says, ‘I’m just getting to know them. I like John, Jimmy is really shy, and I know Robert a bit better.’ These are relative strangers to each other even by the end of their first year. It’s all about the music.”
Becoming Led Zeppelin is available to rent on PVOD for $5.99 starting Tuesday and has a purchase price of $19.99.