Metallica Meld Music and fiction in concert film

Metallica fans won’t be surprised to learn that there’s nothing typical about the band’s 3-D IMAX concert movie Metallica Through the Never, directed by Nimród Antal (Predators) and hitting theaters Sept. 27. The twist: Performance scenes are interspersed with a scripted story line featuring Chronicle star Dane DeHaan as a roadie dispatched into a chaotic city to carry out a task. Even producer Charlotte Huggins has a hard time categorizing the film: ”It’s a dramatic movie in which a concert takes place.”

Also unusual is the fact that the film’s concert scenes — shot at a series of shows in Canada — were truly exclusive and not part of an official tour. ”It took me seven months of working with Metallica until I grasped that they had created this very complex, very elaborate show just for our film,” says Huggins. ”After we were done, that entire stage got packed up and put away.” Huggins insists the 3-D exists only to give fans an immersive experience. ”Lars, James, Kirk, and Robert always consider fans the fifth member of the band,” she says. ”Because it’s a 360-degree arena show, the fans are in every frame.”