Jim Jarmusch Pays Tribute to Legendary Rock Band The Stooges in Trailer for 'Gimme Danger' (Exclusive)
You don’t have to watch the trailer premiere for Gimme Danger (above) for too long before learning how filmmaker Jim Jarmusch feels about the seminal punk band he’s documenting: “We are in an undisclosed location, interrogating Jim Osterberg [better known as Iggy Pop] about The Stooges,” Jarmusch announces. “The greatest rock ‘n’ roll band ever.”
Fans of the Stones and Beatles might take issue, but Jarmusch — the O.G. NYC hipster, revered director behind movies like Down By Law, Ghost Dog, and Broken Flowers, and fervent music aficionado — clearly believes his proclamation.
Gimme Danger (titled after the 1973 song of the same name) marks Jarmusch’s first nonfiction work since the 1997 Neil Young tour doc, Year of the Horse, and the filmmaker has been working on telling The Stooges’ story (at the request of Mr. Pop) since at far back as 2010.
Originally formed as The Psychedelic Stooges in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967, the band behind tracks like “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “Search and Destroy” became one of the most influential rock outfits of their time, known for innovative punk-rock soundscapes and showmanship. “I just started jumping up and down, like baboons do before they’re gonna fight,” Osterberg explained about his stage persona. (And, as seen in the trailer, they also helped popularized both stage-diving and having bottles thrown at their heads).
The Stooges, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, played their last show was exactly two years ago today, on Sept. 28, 2013.
Gimme Danger premiered to cheers at the Cannes Film Festival in May and most recently played at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opens in New York and Detroit on Oct. 28 before going nationwide on Nov. 4.
The film marks of the first of two releases this fall from Jarmusch. Yahoo Movies will have the exclusive trailer for the second, the Adam Driver-starring drama Paterson, tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET/ 10 a.m. PT.
