Two Ramones films will premiere at the TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL in their native NEW YORK in May.
First-time filmmakers Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields co-directed ‘End Of A Century’, which will feature interviews with members ofClash, The Sex Pistols, Ramones and surviving members of the band. The film will span the entire career of the group, starting in 1968 and ending with their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2002. It will also chronicle the death of Dee Dee later that year.
The film will feature unseen live and studio footage and extensive interviews with band members. Gramaglia was a former employee in the Ramones accountant’s office and told Rolling Stone: “It’s like a rock & roll version of ‘The Godfather’, the disintegration of a family.”
“It’s a very dark movie,” says Johnny Ramone. “It’s accurate. It left me disturbed as I was watching it. I’m basically portrayed as a tyrannical monster, Dee Dee is on drugs, Mark is an alcoholic and Joey is an alcoholic and drug addict at various times.”
The film will also portray Joey’s battle with cancer. Gramalgia said “he was on chemo and he was very bloated and weak. We had scheduled probably ten interviews that at the last minute he would cancel. Then he broke his hip, and he never really got out of the hospital.”
Gramalgia, however, is still looking for the three hours of interview footage of Joey Ramone shot by the producers of the Ramonesconcert film, ‘We’re Outta Here’, but claims that “nobody knows where this footage is”.
Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder is an unlikely contributor to the footage – accompanying the band on their last tour of South America.
The second film ‘Hey is Dee Dee Home?’ includes interviews with the bass player about his time with [/a], his battle with drugs and relationship with [a] guitarist Johnny Thunders. Director Lech Kowalski said, “I think (Dee Dee) was really in the mood to tell his story and get something across… This was a point in his life when he was thinking about writing his book.”