Joe Berlinger - Metallica: This Monster Lives: The Inside Story of Some Kind of Monster

JOE BERLINGER

WITH GREG MILNER

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FOR SARAH AND MAYA

FOR JOANNA, JOY, AND NEAL
AND FOR PAT. WHO ROCKED HARD

Writing your first book requires the love and support of many people, whom I would like to thank here.

First and foremost, Id like to thank my cowriter, Greg Milner, a wonderful writer who helped me organize and distill more than three chaotic years of my life into a cohesive narrative. Id also like to thank the members of Metallica: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo. Without their courage and honesty, there would never have been a film, a book, or any of the experiences you are going to read about. This book also wouldnt exist without the shared life experiences of my documentary partner, Bruce Sinofsky, a man who has taught me more about friendship than anyone I have ever known.

To Bob Richman, a good friend and a great cinematographer, for contributing most of the wonderful photographs in this book, as well as allowing us to interview him. (Annamaria DiSanto and Niclas Swanlund also contributed some great photos, so thanks.) Thanks as well to the others who were interviewed for this book, including supervising editor David Zieff, production manager Cheryll Stone, Q Prime Managements Cliff Burnstein and Marc Reiter, album producer Bob Rock, and last but not least, Phil Towle, who not only gave me his time for this book but also gave me the tools to heal my broken spirit at the start of the filmmaking process.

To my trusted lieutenants, Michael Bonfiglio and Rachel Dawson, for their countless hours of reading, suggesting, propping me up, and generally making me look good in all of my endeavors. Michael Emerys brilliant production sound recording made transcriptions for this book a breeze. John Cunningham and Marc Resnick and everyone else at St. Martins Press for keeping their cool as we watched successive deadlines fly by. I also owe a great debt to Andrew Blauner, who helped convince people to trust me to write this book in the first place. Margaret Riley my manager, deserves my gratitude for sticking with me through thick and thin. Special thanks to Jon Kamen, Frank Scherma, Peter Mensch, and Sue Tropio. Thanks also to Richard Hofstetter, Julie ONeill, Helen Wan, Rob Kenneally, Joe Cohen, Aric Ackerman, Jack Lechner, Sabrina Padwa, and Cathy Shannon.

Filmmaking is a highly collaborative process, so I could never fit into this space the names of all of the amazing individuals (particularly the members of the extended Metallica, Q Prime, and @radical.media families) who helped create Some Kind of Monster. But this book would not exist without the film, so please take a look at the end credits of the movie, reproduced at the back of this book. That way, I know everyone who worked on the film will have a few moments of your attention.

Finally my deepest gratitude is reserved for my wife, Loren, and my daughters Sarah and Maya, who put up with countless months spent without a husband and father during the making of Some Kind of Monster, only to have the rug pulled out from under them again as I was holed up in a room working on this manuscript. I love you very much.

A book like this can only be as good as the film that spawned it. Fortunately for me, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky made a great film. And thank you, Joe, for giving me access to such amazing material, in the form of transcripts, tape logs, outtakes, stories, fond reminiscences of the highs, and dark recollections of the lows.

Thank you, Chuck Klosterman, for keeping me in mind even when I wasnt around for lunch. Thanks also to Daniel Greenberg and David McCormick for crucial support. And to Julie Taraska for infinite patience.

The enthusiasm my grandfather, Max Primakow, had for this book, despite never having heard (or heard of) Metallica, made it easier to write, and I wish hed had a chance to read it.

When Joe first told me he wanted to write this book, I figured his head must have been too close to Metallicas Marshall amps, causing something to dislodge in his brain. As we talked about it more, I realized that he was on to something. I suppose my perspective was skewed because as one of the creators of this film, living in the eye of the storm, I may have taken a lot for granted. As I think back on it, I realize that this was a pretty tremendous ride.

The making of Some Kind of Monster was an exceptional experience for both of us. What I hope that you, the reader, will take from this book is a sense of the excitement we experienced on every shoot. I was always filled with the joy of the unknown, the anticipation of something special happening at any time. On some of our previous films, we dealt with subject matter that was far darker than the recording of a rock album. There were some days that I dreaded going to work, because we knew that all there was to look forward to was sadness, anger, and desperation. On Monster, we knew the stakes were high for Metallica, but I never feared entering their world.

Our relationship with our subjects was different on this film, too. We have often forged deep friendships with the people we film, but this was the first time wed spent so much time filming people whom we already knew had a genuine appreciation of our work and wanted to be a part of it. After all, it was Metallica who hired us to do this in the first place, so we already knew the process began from a position of trust. It was also a real pleasure to spend so much time watching the creative process of a band I really dig.

In the past, Joe and I had made films about ordinary people whose lives were transformed by extraordinary situations. With Some Kind of Monster, we documented people with extraordinary lives undergoing ordinary circumstances. At least thats how it started. By the time we had finished, we felt we had been through some of the most extraordinary times in the history of Metallica.

Which brings me to what I thought was most amazing about making this movie. Joe and I have been working together for many years, but never before have the lives of our subjects had such a direct impact on our own lives. Certainly, every time we make a film, we are affected by our subjects, but watching Metallica explore their relationships with one another made us do some soul-searching that I dont think would have happened otherwise. When we first started shooting Monster, Joe and I werent on the best of terms, but as we observed this band, whose success has surpassed anything we could ever imagine, truly finding themselves, we found our way back to the inexplicable chemistry of our filmmaking partnership. We rediscovered the things that had made us want to work together in the first place.