METALLICA Drummer Talks To METAL HAMMER About Making Of 'Through The Never' (Video)

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich recently spoke to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine about the making of the band's new 3D IMAX movie, "Metallica Through The Never". You can watch the chat below.

"Metallica Through The Never" officially opened on September 27 for an exclusive week-long run on IMAX screens before expanding to other theaters on October 4. The film's surreal narrative winds its way through the concert footage, in which a roadie played by Dane DeHaan finds himself in an increasingly hostile urban environment while on a mission for the band. Bassist Robert Trujillo told The Pulse Of Radio what he thinks it all means. "My take on it is there's two worlds," he said. "When you're in a concert venue with METALLICA, it could seem like the most perfect environment. But beyond those walls of the venue, you have mayhem and it could be anything. It could be anarchy. There are problems beyond those walls that exist with what's happening in that bubble of, you know, this perfect world of music and metal."

"[Director] Nimród [Antal] came up with the story line," METALLICA frontman James Hetfield said. "It really is two movies in one. We wanted to have the best concert footage ever filmed and also have a story line and give it some legs that will be open for interpretation. There are so many metaphors in there. And there's no good side or bad side. There's just turmoil. That's just a part of human nature — fight or flight at times. For me, when the rider shows up he's the embodiment of hate. And then there’s fire. Of course. You gotta have fire."

"Metallica Through The Never" sees the band performing on a massive stage, specially constructed for the film, that incorporates elements of METALLICA live shows from the past 30 years.

"The idea to bring back some of the gags from the '80s, when we were a little more theatrical, was that there are so many kids nowadays who have only heard about statues and crosses and so on," said Ulrich. "So it was sort of like METALLICA has generally shied away from being too retro. But five years ago, when we were with [producer] Rick Rubin working on [METALLICA's latest album] 'Death Magnetic', he started encouraging us to be inspired by our past and not run away from it. So that's why we decided to bring back some of those gags, 2012-style. It was time to maybe be okay with sharing that with younger kids without feeling like we were turning into a retro band."