“I’m pissing my pants right now just thinking about it.” – Eminem
Okay, deep breath…
U2, Eminem, Gwen Stefani, Trent Reznor, Bruce Springsteen, Snoop Dogg, Patti Smith, Ice Cube, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Stevie Nicks, will.i.am, Tom Petty…
These are just some of the famous faces you can expect to see in the epic four-part music documentary The Defiant Ones.
Taking the name from a 1958 film staring Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier as escaped prisoners who are shackled together and must co-operate to survive, there are obviously some very strong similarities with the documentary’s people of interest, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.
Their impact on modern music – and modern pop culture in general – is still being felt to this day, and director Allen Hughes (the guy behind the likes of Menace II Society and Dead Presidents) has sat down and talked to some of the biggest names in all of music history about the pair and what they’ve accomplished.
The first part of the doc airs on HBO in the States on Saturday 9 July, and we imagine it shouldn’t be too long afterwards before it gets picked up on this side of the Atlantic.
Clip via HBO
The series has screened to critics in the States and the reviews have been absolutely buzzing:
“Through five meticulously captured hours chronicling their lives’ work, Dre and Iovine are shown bucking expectations and sticking to their guns in the face of unparalleled adversity. Their accomplishments are great, but their defeats aren’t ignored.” – Indiewire
“Even when The Defiant Ones pauses to reflect on grim reality and troubled times, its tone is generally laudatory. We may wish for more depth and perspective. But then along comes another vintage clip of U2 in its prime, or Snoop Dogg’s laid-back assurance, or a young Springsteen and the E Street Band, and the music takes over, and takes us away.” – The Oregonian
“The film, more than four hours long end-to-end, is the kind of solid but friendly documentary all celebrities dream of having made about them, awash in jaw-dropping sweeps of Malibu beach houses, visits to luxe mansion interiors and private-jet cabins, supplemented by drone’s-eye views of yachts and estates and perfect lighting everywhere Iovine and Dre go. Despite its fixation on provocative and at times harrowing (and even criminal) travails, The Defiant Ones never stops basking in the permaglow of their success.” – The Washington Post
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
