Director Of Nick Cave Film Reveals Muso 'Was Trapped And Needed To Do Something'

Ahead of the release of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' 16th album Skeleton Tree on 9 September, the director of its accompanying film One More Time With Feeling has offered his very first statement on Cave's motivation for creating the film, in the wake of the sudden death of his teenage son.

Andrew Dominik (The Assassination Of Jesse James, Chopper) says he asked Cave, "Why do you want to do this?". 

"Nick told me that he had some things he needed to say, but he didn’t know who to say them to. The idea of a traditional interview, he said, was simply unfeasible but that he felt a need to let the people who cared about his music understand the basic state of things.

"It seemed to me that he was trapped somewhere and just needed to do something – anything - to at least give the impression of forward movement."

The black-and-white 3D film is the first of its kind — "It is both modern and from a distant age – much like the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ new record, Skeleton Tree, actually" — though Cave initially expressed hesitation about its 3D aspect.

"Nick’s response was, “I fucking hate 3D” or something like that. I showed him old black and white photos viewed through a stereopticon from the 50s. I told him I wanted to make a film where these sorts of photos came slowly to life.

"I felt that the stark black-and-white and the haunted drama of these 3D images perfectly addressed the disembodied sound of the record and the weird sense of paralysis that Nick seemed to exist in at the time."

One More Time With Feeling will be screened on 8 September for just one day and features interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and narration from Cave.