Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson is teaming up with filmmaker Sacha Gervasi (Anvil: The Story of Anvil!) to co-write a narrative screenplay about the now-cult rock concert Dickinson played during the height of the Siege of Sarajevo in 1994.
Risking their lives, Dickinson and his band Skunkworks were smuggled into the besieged city by the UN to play a concert for its beleaguered citizens amidst the chaos of war. The journey was captured in a 2016 documentary Scream for Me Sarajevo.
The Siege Of Sarajevo was the longest siege in modern history lasting 1,425 days and resulting in more than 11,000 killed, including 1,600 children. The city was decimated, infrastructure destroyed, and there was wide spread damage to many cultural institutions, government buildings, hospitals, and schools.
In 2019, the Sarajevo City Council granted Dickinson the title of “Honorary citizen of Sarajevo,” in remembrance of his visit and the band’s performance at the peak of the Bosnian war. At the presentation Mayor Abdulah Skaka said, “The arrival of Mr. Dickinson in Sarajevo in 1994 was one of those moments that made us in Sarajevo realize that we will survive, that the city of Sarajevo will survive, that Bosnia-Herzegovina will survive.”
…Said Dickinson, “The few incredible days I spent in Sarajevo with my solo band pre-Christmas in 1994 were some of the most intense of my life. Crafting a story to bring the emotions, madness, tragedy and triumph to the screen is no easy task. My own journey was as a long haired heavy metal singer driving through firefights into a city that had been under siege longer than Stalingrad. Mine was not, of course, the only journey taken on that day, and afterwards, at home in London, I left behind in Sarajevo travelling companions on the road of life. This movie is actually dedicated to their story, not mine.”
Gervasi commented, ”I first met Bruce Dickinson as a 15 year old Maiden fan in London in 1982. Now, nearly 40 years later to be co-writing this extraordinarily intense and personal story with Bruce himself is a genuine and unexpected honor. The real story of the kids and local musicians who attended that show is as poignant as it is inspiring. Many of them didn’t make it. As Bruce has already said, we hope this film will be a tribute to them.”
Dickinson and Gervasi sat down with award-winning podcaster Alex Ferrari for an exclusive discussion about their collaboration and inspirations on Ferrari’s new podcast, Next Level Soul which will air on Saturday, May 1st. See exclusive preview clip here.
Dickinson is the lead singer of Iron Maiden one of the world’s greatest and most successful heavy metal bands who have sold in excess of 90 million albums. His incredible array of talents include being a commercial airline pilot, entrepreneur, best-selling author, International fencer, brewmaster, and motivational keynote speaker.
Gervasi’s critically-acclaimed Emmy award-winning rock documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil also won the Film Independent Spirit Awards, two International Documentary Association prizes, and earned him a DGA Nomination. Gervasi’s Hitchcock received BAFTA, SAG, and Golden Globe nominations for Helen Mirren’s performance as Alma Reville, as well as an Oscar nomination for make-up and hairstyling. His 2018 film, My Dinner with Hervé starring Peter Dinklage was nominated for PGA, WGA, and the Critics Choice Award, as well as a primetime Emmy for Outstanding Television Film.
source: deadline.com
One Response
The story of Anvil was a stark reminder of how you can go from the top, to relatively nonexistent in this business in a relatively short time. I respect their accomplishments though. I would like to see this documentary of Bruce and his band playing this show in extremely unusual circumstances. I’m so old, I remember Iron Maiden opening up for Priest in the 80’s in NJ, when no one had heard of them. They commanded the stage with confidence and swagger and didn’t disappoint.