When You're Strange

When You’re Strange A Film About The Doors (Source: Wikipedia) MINI-MEDIA KIT Documentary Feature Film, U.S.A., 2008 90 Minutes, Color & B/W For Additional Information Please Visit http://www.whenyourestrangemovie.com Contact Information Wendy Wanjen Leu [email protected] 650-303-4488 SYNOPSIS Let’s go to theater and admire one of the most controversial bands in rock music history! The Doors, formed in 1965 in Los Angeles with four members – vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmor – was a rock band, as well as a representative symbol of the 1960s and 1970s times. Although the existence of The Doors was short, their sings and their performances have not only appealed a lot of people, but also had a long‐standing influence to former, current, and even future society. Simply speaking, The Doors has been a legend. Being a fan of The Doors, director Tom DiCillo clearly knew the importance of this documentary. Unlike other documentaries, When You’re Strange does not consist of tedious and boring “talking head” interviews. Instead, with the talent of telling story in a narrative way, DiCillo reorganized the never‐before‐seen film footage and the footage from Morrison’s student film, HWY, to present The Doors with different dimensions. All the footage was shot between the band’s formation in 1965 and the charismatic frontman Morrison’s untimely death in 1971. The footage is truly a rare treasure. For the causal fans and audience, this documentary offers a good chance to deeply understand everything about The Doors as well as the historical background in the 1960s and the early 1970s. For the loyal fans, however, this time capsule also provides a fresh feeling about The Doors with DiCillo’s rearrangement of footage and Johnny Depp’s skillful narration. From this documentary, the exploration of The Doors begins. People can go through the whole story of The Doors, from the early days of the team members, how they met together, how the band was formed, their opening act, signing contract with Jac Holzman, their first album, their second album, the clubs, the interaction between the band members, to the unexpected death of Morrison. Every single thing detailed in the film was unique and important, as well as correlated with each other. Compared to The Doors, a film directed by Oliver Stone and acted by Val Kilmer in 1991, what When You’re Strange gives to people will be much more authentic. Instead of the actors, people can see the “real” band members rehearsing together, performing on the concerts, having funny interviews, or interacting with fans. By viewing this documentary, people can easily be touched with genuine feeling. The members of The Doors were alive, their images in the footage are alive, and the spirit of The Doors will be always alive. It’s When You’re Strange. A film about The Doors. It is all about The Doors. STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTOR Tom DiCillo, the director of When You’re Strange, is one of the fans of The Doors. “The Doors have been, subconsciously, my favorite band since I first heard them when I was 14.” For him, directing this film was not only a new career beginning of dealing with a documentary, but also a good chance to access to the never‐before‐ seen archival film footage. After watching all the materials, DiCillo decided to make this documentary as a narrative film, as well as featured with the band lead singer, Jim Morrison. He explained, “I realized I needed to approach this as a narrative film and in that sense discover and develop particularly Morrison as the protagonist, as the lead character in it.” In order to understand Morrison as deeply as he could, DiCillo went through a series of developments of understanding, including reading No One Here Gets Out Alive (a biography of Jim Morrison which was written by journalist Jerry Hopkins), Ray Manzarek’s book, John Densmore’s book, and a lot of magazine pieces and interviews, as well as talking to the family of Morrison’s sister. DiCillo found Morrison was struggling with something during his short life, and that was probably because Marrison came from a military family. “My suspicion is,” DiCillo said, “that Morrison’s psychic and karmic persona was the exact opposite of being told and forced to do something without any reason.” Referring to the film production, DiCillo indicated the hardest part was to figure out how to organize all the stuff. “It’s been a long experience. But, it could have been longer.” DiCillo stated, “I mean, it was a tremendous amount to assimilate and to try to organize. The organization was the biggest challenge.” To tell the story from different dimensions, pulling out other stories from the footage was even a struggle. “Morrison’s character is the most dynamic. He went through the biggest changes and so he leads the story. But,” DiCillo emphasized, “the rest of the guys had very specific and just fascinating relationships. Each of them had a very specific musical function, as well as this function of supporting Morrison so that he could go crazy and always have someplace to come back to.” “I came to respect all of them,” DiCillo summed up, “That’s why the film ends when Morrison dies. All four of them were The Doors. When Morrison died, there were three members of The Doors, not The Doors.” BIOS OF THE CAST AND CREW The Cast • Jim Morrison (as himself) Jim Morrison was the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors, one of the most influential bands in rock music history. Being gifted, he also had some works of several books, poetry, as well as films. Born in December 8, 1943, Morrison grew up in a military family and moved frequently during his childhood. He completed his undergraduate degree in the film school of the University of California, Los Angeles. He (Source: temp15.proto‐sites.com) also met Ray Manzarek there. After graduated, he formed The Doors with Manzarek in 1965. Morrison died in July 26, 1971 with the age of 27. His body was found in his rented apartment in Paris, but the absence of an official autopsy has left his cause of death mysterious. • Ray Manzarek (as himself) Ray Manzarek was the keyboardist of The Doors. He is also known as a musician, singer, producer, film director, and writer. Born in February 12, 1939, Manzarek grew up in Chicago with his parents. He took piano lessons from Bruno Michelotti and others. During the period from 1962 to 1965, he studied in the Department of Cinematography at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he met Jim Morrison. (Source: temp15.proto‐sites.com) With the strong passion of music, Manzarek has also joined several groups such as Nite City, Echo & the Bunnymen, X, as well as cooperated with many people such as Philip Glass, lggy Pop, Michael McClure, and Michael C. Ford. In addition, he has also reached out from music field and become a producer, film director, as well as writer. • Robby Krieger (as himself) Robby Krieger is a rock and roll guitarist and songwriter. During the time of The Doors, he played guitar and wrote some of the band’s most famous songs, including Light My Fire, Love Me Two Times, Touch Me, and Love Her Madly. Born in January 8, 1946, Krieger early started his exposure to music. From the age of 10, he tried trumpet and played piano, and finally fell in love with guitar. After The Doors disbanded, Krieger has continued his (Source: temp15.proto‐sites.com) music career and released a handful of albums by both forming other bands and solo performance. • John Densmore (as himself) John Densmore is a musician and songwriter, and was the former drummer of The Doors. Born in December 1, 1944, Densmore joined The Doors in 1965 and remained a member. In the 1980’s, he left the world of rock and roll, and moved toward the area of dance to be a stage actor and producer. In 2006, Densmore returned to his roots as a jazz drummer, and released an album with his new brand, Tribaljazz. (Source: temp15.proto‐sites.com) • Johnny Depp (narration) Johnny Depp is an American actor and musician. His most famous woks included acting in Edward Scissorhands, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Born in June 9, 1963, Depp owns an adventure spirit and is always happy to try new things. Besides his film career, he also has performed in the area of music as a guitar player. His latest works in 2010 includes acting in Alice in (Source: www.imdb.com) Wonderland, narrating in When You’re Strange, and acting in Rango. The Crew • Tom DiCillo (director and screenwriter) Tom DiCillo is an American film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. After studied creative writing at Old Dominion University and filmmaking at New York University’s Film School, he started to work as an actor and cinematographer, and then made his own films. DiCillo has written and directed seven films, including Johnny Suede (1991), Living in Oblivion (1995), Box of (Source: www.imdb.com) Moon Light (1996), The Real Blonde (1997), Double Whammy (2001), Delirious (2006), and When You’re Strange (2009). These movies helped him to win 13 awards and get another 7 nominations. • John Beug (producer) John Beug is a producer. His has worked in a wide range of film, TV show, and music. In addition, he also has the experience of being the director and music supervisor in the early years of his career.

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