Some ideas are outlandish enough to change everything.
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DEADLINE: How did you get involved with the Lollapalooza documentary?
MICHAEL JOHN WARREN:This is by far the most personal thing Ive ever made.
Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza on Paramount+Paramount+
I was at the first Lollapalooza at 17 years old.
They came to my hometown of Mansfield, Massachusetts, and it really spoke to me.
We were little punk rock kids who just hated corporations.
DirectorMichael John WarrenCharles Gallay/Getty Images
We hated pop music.
It really was an eye-opening moment for me.
I hadnt seen the world yet because I was just living, stuck in suburbia.
Then, a lot of my life happened and this project came around.
It almost sounds impossible.
Thats why I did it.
It was really personal for me, and it sounded like a great challenge.
Im very happy I did it.
Was there a particular challenge in transitioning to focusing on the broader festival at large?
But, no, theres no topic too big.
It was so complex with all the stuff that happened to him in his life.
Once you do something that complex, theres nothing more complex than what happened to him.
The real challenge is telling a story about an entity, Lollapalooza.
He didnt just found it.
Hes still involved with it today.
He fell out of love with it.
Hes going through all the ups and downs with it, and so we rooted the story in Perry.
DEADLINE: This is a three-part documentary.
Did you ever consider doing a feature?
Or perhaps more than three parts?
How did you decide to structure the material?
WARREN:It was always going to be a series because its just that big of a story.
It could have been a feature also, but it wouldve been rushed.
If you were going to do a feature on this, you would have just done the year 1991.
That could have been a feature.
But theres no way you could have done 30 years of history as a feature.
It isnt longer because we wanted to double-check it was well-paced.
I think the modern audience wants things that are well-paced.
Theres not a lot of big, sprawling things happening right now.
And [the doc] is all of those things.
I actually think it sits really well where its at.
You really sit down with them and experience the performance in a very luxurious way as a concert film.
I do concert films as well.
Its a music story, but its actually a cultural story.
Its about a cultural revolution.
It ends in India toward the end of the series because thats whats happening currently.
Because of Lollapalooza, festivals became a huge thing.
Theyre not as big as they were, say, late 90s, but theyre still huge.
He knows he cant blow anyones mind in America really anymore because they have the other festivals out there.
Weve read about this.
Weve seen this, and were experiencing it.
Perry loves culture and he really respects different cultures.
Its good business as well.
Hes really into showing people something they havent seen before.
DEADLINE: How long did it take to put together the documentary and all the archival footage?
WARREN:I think I first started working on this three and a half, four years ago probably.
There were some people.
My friends at FunMeter were working on this even before I got it cooking.
This was a very long process.
Its a very big story.
Theres a lot of very famous musicians who had to agree to be interviewed, clear their music.
We went through at least 20,000, maybe 30,000 hours of archival footage and had to go through that.
This is a well-documented music festival for 30-something years.
At this point, when you go to Lollapalooza, theres 10 TV trucks filming different stages.
We wanted to talk about Rock the Vote.
We wanted to talk about all the things that are in there.
It was at least half a decade in the making without question.
DEADLINE: What was the throughline or theme of the documentary that you wanted to get across to audiences?
How do I keep it alive forever now?
Thats really what the Chicago part of that story is about.
Thats what hes done in Chicago at this point.
Its a story of codependency.
DEADLINE: The coolest thing to me is that it wasnt just about passively watching a music documentary.
I learned so much.
I had no idea Lollapalooza was born out of the ending of Janes Addiction.
And now its been there multiple times.
Thats why festivals werent really happening for decades before Lollapalooza.
Festivals can be a dangerous business.
I think we all know that.
They were pioneering all these safety protocols which became commonplace right after they proved that it could be done.
literally down to the square footage.
They were making sure everyone was safe and everything was under control.
They take it very seriously because its a big deal.
Thats how they grew.
WARREN:Right, and then almost causing a riot themselves.
Rage Against the Machine, thats a band that is so powerful.
I mean the lyrics, F*ck you.
I wont do what you tell me.
Thats a riot in the can right there.
They had to manage all that stuff.
DEADLINE: Did any research or interview particularly surprise you when creating this documentary?
At that time, I didnt even know you could say the N-word on stage.
I literally didnt think it was legal to do that.
My mouth was open.
I couldnt believe it.
I was literally waiting for the cops to shut the whole day down.
The show is done.
Youve got to scrub the air sometimes.
I wasnt really sure what he was going to say.
I asked him directly, Was it just for shock value?
He was like, No.
We wanted to prove that racism was stupid.
Hes like, Im not the kind of person who can be like, Love your mother.
I got to hit you with the shock value and then contextualize it.
They did it in a pretty responsible way.
Ice-T isnt going to do a damn thing Ice-T doesnt want to do.
I thought that might be a helpful tool for us.
I wasnt sure they were going to still own it, and they were like, No.
Were both really proud of that.
Im like, OK, great, and now its out there for the world.
I think theres a lot of value there.
I think we could learn something from what they were trying to do back in 91 today.
And Im curious as to how you managed to tackle that.
Surely, it would have been so easy to just stay on the surface.
WARREN:I have read the articles and am glad theyre saying that.
But also, its like, have you seen any of my other work?
But it was legitimately an important topic to talk about for that show.
I was in Mansfield, Massachusetts, in 1991.
It was very, very, very white back then.
I havent been back in a long time.
So, I dont know what its like now.
It wasnt going to happen.
Rodney King had happened right around that time.
We were mortified that that was going on, and then here comes Cop Killer.
Its like a Molotov cocktail of a song.
They knew that the race conversation had to keep going.
It didnt end, obviously, with the Civil Rights era.
We have to keep going.
Were still going now.
We leaned into it, but it was also right there.
It was like, of course, were going to talk about those things.
There was a lot of footage.
Perrys girlfriend at the time, in 91, had a camcorder with her.
Shes in all the rooms.
Thats where all that Ice-T going through the audience footage comes from, and so there was more stuff.
But there was a lot of cool little gems in there that had to come out for time.
Were moving through 30 years in three episodes.
Its very story-driven more so than like, Lets hang out with Chance the Rapper for two songs.
We cant really do that in this.
I do think that this is the best version of the show.
The one that came out is the best version.
DEADLINE: What were the most challenging parts to assemble?
WARREN:Building this episodically.
Im not even trying to be funny.
Episode 1 is so good.
So, getting that to fit into a tight little package was challenging.
I think that was an important part to include.
You cant let a festival take over our park.
Chicago is like New York, Boston and Philly.
Theyre not going to really pull their punches.
Theyre going to say what theyre going to say whether you like it or not.
I love that Perry is willing to admit his mistakes and own them.
He understands hes not perfect.
I really respect that for him.
