Post-publication note: the PR company working Becoming Led Zeppelin have reached out to inform us that the film has not been retitled.
The much-anticipated and much-hyped Led Zeppelin documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin has undergone a name change, and is apparently being re-edited, according to a report on ledzepnews.com.
First announced in 2019, and premiered to much fan-fare in 2021 at the Venice International Film Festival, Bernard MacMahon's authorised documentary is now being sold with the title Led Zeppelin, according to a posting on the website of Altitude Film Sales, the company tasked with selling the film to distributors.
The official blurb on the Altitude site reads:
"LED ZEPPELIN is a film that no one thought could ever be made. The band’s meteoric rise to stardom was swift and previously undocumented. With unparalleled access to the group and their personal archives, their full support and never-before-seen footage, LED ZEPPELIN will immerse you in the sights and sounds of their early career. This big screen experience is as close as you will get to being there.
"LED ZEPPELIN tells the story of four men and their love of music, revealing their individual journeys as they move through the music scene of the 1960s, playing small clubs throughout Britain or performing on some of the biggest hits of the era, until their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that changes their lives forever.
"Four journeys merge into one as they set out to conquer America on a rollercoaster ride that culminates in 1970 when they become the number one band in the world."
Becoming Led Zeppelin received mixed reviews after its 2021 screening in Venice. 'It unearths Led Zeppelin's roots with comprehensive fascination, but Bernard MacMahon's authorized documentary isn't the searching movie that rock's great annihilators deserve' wrote Industry 'bible' Variety, reporting that the film features 'too much catering to the band and not enough perspective'.
In September last year, Sam Rapallo, the administrator of Led Zeppelin’s official forum, announced that the film was being re-edited, and said that the film-makers were still open to receiving fan-filmed footage. He wrote, "Regarding 'Becoming Led Zeppelin', I understand they are nearing the end of the edit and have been taking advantage of the time to make the film as good as possible. I have seen the film in several stages and think it is an extraordinary piece of work that I hope we all get to share in soon.
"As the filmmakers have told me, they’ll continue to be on the search for unseen archive from the period the film covers all the way until the film is released, so if anyone has anything they would like to send their way, please reach out to me. A few new gems have been added since its public screening last year."
