Gandulf Hennig is a Berlin-based filmmaker and musician.
BBC Four: Why did you want to make a film about Gram Parsons?
Gandulf Hennig: For me Gram Parsons is one of the great 20th-century innovators of music. The story of his life is so unbelievable and I was astonished that a film didn't exist about him, probably because he wasn't part of the mainstream. To this day I am surprised that no one had a made a film about him so I thought somebody's got to do it.
BBC Four: When did you have that initial idea?
GH: The initial idea is about 12 years old. During my first internship at a production company it was the first idea I had for a film. Then five years ago I really started to develop the project. I wrote a script, tried to get some funding and then teamed up with Sid Griffin.
BBC Four: How did you work with Sid? What was his role in the film?
GH: First of all Sid was a fountain of knowledge - he wrote the first biography of Gram Parsons 20 years ago. When I started doing this I didn't know that much about Gram - I've managed to catch up with Sid over the years but in the beginning he knew so much more. Second, he's a music journalist and has made a lot of contacts over the years. There were many interviewees we got easy access to because Sid was involved.
BBC Four: How difficult was it to get together all this remarkable archive footage?
GH: The problem is that not much footage exists so we had to find stuff that's outside the usual archives. We found things in people's private homes, like Super 8 material that had never been released, stuff that someone had filmed at a concert in 1973.
BBC Four: This is really the first time a lot of Gram Parsons' family have spoken on camera isn't it?
GH: Most of them have not only spoken on camera for the first time, it's the first time they've spoken at all in public about their feelings and memories and the impression Gram left on them.
BBC Four: So why do you think they've chosen to speak now?
GH: For two reasons I think. I think they thought that there's been so much trash written about Gram and their involvement in his life that maybe they should contribute at least once to get their point across, so it's not always the same myths repeated again and again. Secondly, I promised them that I would try to make the film as just and as fair as I could and not hurt their feelings. Others will have to judge whether I've succeeded, but I really wanted to get everybody's personal situation and feelings across without being judgmental.
BBC Four: The film avoids a lot of the lurid stories surrounding Gram's death. Why?
GH: As Emmylou Harris says in the film, "He should be remembered for his music and not the way he died." So we chose to leave the juicy details out because they add nothing to Gram's story, not to his music, nor to the fact that he died. The details we need are in the film - he didn't have a normal funeral and he didn't die at 55 of a heart attack; he died when he was 26 and his body was stolen. Who cares what people did to his body to try and get him back to life? It's a very sad story. If you look at the film, people who loved him are still traumatised by his death.
Gram Parsons homepage
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