Dandy Warhols Call 'Dig!' a 'Dishonest' Documentary
- Posted on Jul 21st 2009 4:00PM by Dan Reilly
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In 2004, filmmaker Ondi Timoner released the documentary 'Dig!' which followed the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre as they searched for mainstream success. Narrated by Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor, the movie portrayed the bands both as friends and rivals, often painting an unfavorable picture of BJM singer Anton Newcombe. In a visit to the Spinner offices, Taylor-Taylor and Warhols drummer Brent "Fathead" DeBoer revealed their true feelings on the film."It's a good thing to have gone away because it was a very dishonest experience," Taylor-Taylor says. "It's not a very true movie. There's a lot of acting and a lot of 'Well, we don't have a story. Let's make one up.'" One of the band's biggest gripes is with the timeline of the movie -- the Warhols were recorded for eight years while BJM was filmed for 10 months, yet they claim everything was depicted as happening concurrently. "It's a fantastically compelling movie because it's all about awfulness and on a Jerry Springer level, it really works," Taylor-Taylor says. "I was very uncomfortable during that time because I had to play along and I didn't know what to say in interviews. You can't say 'Look, it's not true' because it was this big documentary, 'the best rock and roll documentary ever.'" Taylor-Taylor isn't exaggerating the film's hype and acclaim -- it won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance festival in 2004.
Fathead, for his part, agrees. "Ondi has 1,998 hours of footage that nobody saw and she could have taken it and made a really respectful show about two really talented bands working very hard and making great records," he says. "It could be a feel-good story, like here's where they're born, here's where they recorded, here's how they've grown together, and here's where they are now. But she just snagged a couple hours of just the worst behavior." Indeed, the film focuses on much of the negativity, including a famous BJM showcase where Newcombe fought a bandmate and kicked an audience member. "The character she chose for him is unflattering," says Taylor-Taylor. "We have never seen Anton get in a fight, ever."
In the end, the band is happy not to have to answer many questions about the film these days. "It's nice now that we've got all this other s--- going on," Taylor-Taylor says. "The movie came out and really led to the wrong idea about what we care about and what the hell we do. It was a mess." They've also seemingly come to grips with how someone can distort reality through film. "You could follow my mom around for seven years shooting 2,000 hours of footage and make her look like a psycho," Fathead says. "Really, she's a lovely fourth grade teacher."
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