Whole Lot­ta Love: A Led Zep­pelin doc­u­men­tary is com­ing your way

Big news com­ing in at The Hol­ly­wood Reporter today, not from the land of the ice and snow, but the sun­ny banks of the Cote d’Azur. Over at Cannes’ bustling orgy of deal­mak­ing known as the Marché, a new doc­u­men­tary about rock ​’n’ roll leg­ends Led Zep­pelin has been announced as up for grabs.

The still-unti­tled film comes from Bernard McMa­hon, cel­e­brat­ed for direct­ing the Amer­i­can Epic series, a deep dive into the rich his­to­ry of roots songs in Amer­i­ca. McMahon’s British her­itage, ten­den­cy for ded­i­cat­ed research, and cir­cum­spect view of musi­cal his­to­ry all suit him per­fect­ly to get the Led out with his lat­est effort.

Led Zep­pelin remains one of the most impor­tant and influ­en­tial bands in all of rock-dom, a link between the first half of the 20^th cen­tu­ry (folk, blues) and the sec­ond half (heavy met­al, prog). It’s impos­si­ble to hear the open­ing drum beat of ​‘When the Lev­ee Breaks’ with­out get­ting chills, such is the depth of their cul­tur­al permeation.

The top-to-bot­tom exam­i­na­tion of the band’s mete­oric rise and lega­cy is said to include exclu­sive inter­views with remain­ing mem­bers Jim­my Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, along with lit­tle-seen archival footage to give the dear­ly depart­ed John Bon­ham a pres­ence in the film as well. And of course, diehard fans can also expect rare stu­dio record­ings, pho­tographs, and a new state-of-the-art restora­tion for the songs includ­ed in the film.

The cur­rent­ly unfin­ished film arrives on a wave of doc­u­men­tary salutes to Boomer nos­tal­gia acts, fol­low­ing the path pre­vi­ous­ly blazed by last year’s Long Strange Trip, a Mar­tin Scors­ese-approved ode to the Grate­ful Dead.

There’s only going to be more and more of this as the peo­ple who were in their twen­ties dur­ing the ​’70s age through their six­ties – it’s only a mat­ter of time until Jethro Tull receive the docu-pro­file treat­ment, and rock flute comes roar­ing back to the musi­cal mainstream.