METALLICA Frontman To Speak About 'Absent' Movie At Arizona's Central Christian Church

According to the Phoenix New Times, METALLICA frontman James Hetfield will speak at Central Christian Church in Mesa, Arizona on May 12. He will be part of a question-and-answer session following a screening of the award-winning documentary "Absent", exploring the worldwide crisis of absent and disengaged fathers and the negative impact that the "father wound" makes on society.

Hetfield and filmmaker Justin Hunt were interviewed on the March 30 edition of "Fox & Friends" on the Fox News channel about "Absent". You can now watch video footage of their appearance below.

Hetfield discussed his involvement with "Absent" in an interview with Rockville Music Magazine on March 3, just before the film screened at the San Rafael California Film Institute in San Rafael, California. In the film, which deals with the issue of absent or disengaged fathers, Hetfield recounts his own experience of having his father abandon his family when the future rock legend was 13 years old.

Now a father of three himself, Hetfield says that he himself has come a long way from the time in 2001 when he missed his son's birthday because he was on a drunken hunting trip in Russia. He told the magazine that never happens anymore, explaining, "We'll pull them from school and fly them to Lisbon or fly them to Philly, or wherever it is, so the kids gets to celebrate with their Pops."

Hetfield added about becoming a father, "I thought I'd better start reading some books on how to be dad. I started to get mad. My dad didn't teach me to do this or this . . . There was a lot of resentment that came from fear. And I figured out they don't need all of that. They don't need the instructions. They need guidance. They need love. They need you to be there, simple as that."

Hetfield said there was a pivotal moment when he realized what kind of father he wanted to be for his kids: "Just sitting with the kids and just realizing, 'You know what? I don't have to do anything else. I don't have to show up for this gig. I don't have to, you know, I can be late for this. All that shit can go away. All I have to do is just sit here with my kids, and that is fine.'"

Hetfield and Hunt did a question-and-answer session with the audience after the screening of "Absent", with Hetfield staying an extra hour and a half to sign autographs and talk with fans.