Yahoo/Billboard Dig! Article/Interview

Yahoo.com
By Carla Hay
April 4, 2004

The art vs. commerce debate isn't new. But the documentary "DIG!" offers a searing view on what happens when two musicians facing that dilemma take different paths.

The movie -- which won the grand jury prize for best documentary at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival -- is about the longtime friendship-turned-rivalry between Dandy Warhols lead singer Courtney Taylor and Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman Anton Newcombe.

Taylor experiences major-label commercial success, while Newcombe is determined to stay independent and on the fringes of the mainstream.

Taylor is a self-described "well-adjusted" musician whose band stays together during its ups and downs. Newcombe is a self-destructive troublemaker whose band falls apart from infighting, aided by Newcombe's volatile personality.

The story of how Taylor and Newcombe deal with the music industry, and how the industry deals with them, serves as a cautionary tale to artists who want their work to be recognized by the public.

Music-video veteran Ondi Timoner wrote, directed and produced "DIG!," which was filmed between 1996 and 2003. She tells Billboard that the most trying aspects of making the film were the editing, which took three years, and the challenge of sticking with Newcombe as a subject.

"It was hard because as a documentary filmmaker, you can't intervene if the person you're filming is a addict. But I also didn't want to exploit Anton's addiction, so I left some of the darkest stuff out of the film."

Timoner says the film's unusual title was inspired by a catchphrase used by many involved in the project.

"We kept using the word 'dig' a lot, as in, 'Can you dig it?' But it also took on a double meaning, because doing this documentary was like doing an archaeological dig."

Timoner originally conceived "DIG!" as a documentary series for TV titled "The Cut," focusing on unsigned bands trying to secure record deals. Timoner pitched the idea to MTV, and she says the channel initially agreed to develop the project.

"But then they had a lot of, like we couldn't show cigarettes. Eventually, the people at MTV stopped responding to the project and came out with their own series called 'The Cut,' which was the kind of talent show you would expect from MTV."

Timoner took the rejection as a sign that the project was better off as a movie and decided to focus on Taylor and Newcombe as the documentary's main subjects.

The two musicians were "way more charismatic than the other people we filmed," Timoner says. "All the other bands were playing it safe."

Palm Pictures will release "DIG!" in October in U.S. theaters. The Sundance Channel will also televise the film around that time. Timoner says the DVD, which Palm will release in late 2004 or early 2005, will include scenes cut from the theatrical release that center on Newcombe's obsession with power, cults and mind control.