Q&A: It Might Get Loud Director Davis Guggenheim

It Might Get Loud is Davis Guggenheim's summer after science class. The director has followed up his Oscar-winning 2006 documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, with a film that nourishes his inner music fan, another doc that brings together three titans of rock -- Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, U2's the Edge, and the White Stripes' Jack White -- to jam, talk about how they got started, and ruminate on that most revolutionary of rock 'n' roll instruments, the electric guitar.

The film is as narratively loose and occasionally meandering as a casual noodling session. It's occasionally trippy, such as when a child shows up dressed exactly like White and plays along with him in several scenes. (One passing mention tells us it's White as a kid. Which doesn't really explain much.) It's often thrilling, such as when the three musicians learn each other's hits or, near the end, perform a soulfully imperfect version of the Band's “The Weight.”

But most of all, It Might Get Loud is intimate. Guggenheim captured some astonishing moments here, including White composing a song on the spot or the Edge admitting that he sometimes feels "like a complete idiot" if inspiration doesn't strike. The highlight, though? A shot of Page standing over a record player while Link Wray's “Rumble” spins, a huge smile across the legend's bobbing head.

And then he air-guitars.

Guggenheim spent some time talking about the film with Washington City Paper, sometimes sounding like he'd be just as happy bouncing in a 9:30 club mosh pit as standing behind a camera. Read More "Q&A: It Might Get Loud Director Davis Guggenheim" »