The film-maker behind documentary movie Mission to Lars says most members of Metallica weren’t interested in the project – but she’s still a fan of the band.
The film tells the story of severe learning disability sufferer, Tom Spicer, who wants to meet thrash drummer Lars Ulrich. It charts the efforts of his brother Will and sister Kate as they try to make the meeting happen, and learn much more about their sibling and his Fragile X syndrome as they go.
And while drummer Ulrich has voiced his support for the work, Kate Spicer says the rest of the band didn’t want to know.
She tells Geeks of Doom: “There’s no two ways about it. James Hetfield and the other guys were not into our project, no way.
“It’s funny – nobody’s really asked me about that. They were quite… they weren’t into it at all. You could tell it was Lars’ thing. But I feel that’s kind of their thing – they’ve just got their own things going on.”
Despite the experience Spicer says she’s become a Metallica fan after seeing them seven times. “I like things fast,” she reports. “I was talking to some heavy metal nerds about, now I’ve seen them seven times, I find other shows a bit flabby. They’re like, ‘That’s funny, because they’re one of the flabbiest bands out there!’
“Maybe I’m just over-excited by the sight of fire. But I think I would have preferred them when they were proper thrash, to be honest with you.”
Spicer admits she didn’t know enough about Tom or his condition when they started making the movie. But she says: “I’ve got quite a lot of shame for the way I treated Tom, and I think it needs to be talked about.
“I’m not going to say I was completely rubbish – but I think we can be very, very lazy with learning disabled people. Tom and I have a really good relationship now. It taught me to be a much better sister.
“I think people with learning disability in their family are often pictured as martyrs or abusers. Actually it’s a very complicated interplay between a lot of different people.”
-ClassicRockMagazine
You must log in to post a comment.