From the makers of such heavy metal documentaries as Heavy Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and Global Metal comes Iron Maiden: Flight 666, a film following the latest tour of the acclaimed metal band. The film, as described by co-director Scot McFadyen, is both a behind-the-scenes expose of the band on tour and a medley of live performance clips from the tour.

‘We love rock documentaries,’ McFadyen says. ‘We just wanted this one to be more of an experience of what it’s like to be with the band on tour. It was a worldwide tour that went to 11 countries in 45 days and travelled 75,000 kilometers — all on this refurbished 757 plane.’

McFadyen admits that he and co-director Sam Dunn are big Iron Maiden fans, and as such, says documenting the tour was a daunting experience, citing the logistical challenges of filming a band on and off the stage compared with the relative ease of compiling interviews in his previous documentary work.

Also daunting was the added pressure that came with being a fan of the band he was filming.

‘We are fans, so it’s not that different than Martin Scorsese doing a movie about the Rolling Stones,’ he says, referring to the 2008 doc Shine a Light. ‘We came at it with an approach as fans, so in some ways it’s a celebration of Iron Maiden.’

Although McFadyen says Flight 666 has no direct threads of continuity with his previous documentaries, calling the film a ‘standalone,’ he credits the popularity of Journey and Global Metal with giving himself and Dunn the ability to win the trust of members of Iron Maiden.

McFadyen describes his previous films as general explorations of the heavy metal genre, while Flight 666 — along with his upcoming efforts including a doc on the Canadian rock band Rush and a proposed doc series for VH1 similar to Journey — delves into the microcosmic aspect of metal by examining one band.

The one-day theatrical release on Tuesday — dubbed ‘Maiden Day’ by the film’s promoters — will be followed by the DVD on May 26. McFadyen is confident about how Iron Maiden fans will receive the film.

‘I think they’re going to orgasm, really,’ he said. ‘Honestly, I’ve seen everything that Iron Maiden has put out and this [film] is leaps and bounds beyond anything that they’ve done visually.’

From Realscreen Daily