BABK JALALI
Recruiting Lars for his film Radio Dreams, the Iranian-british director depicted Metallica fandom as an act of rebellion
Your 2016 movie, Radio Dreams, features the fictional story of real-life Afghan metal band Kabul Dreams meeting Lars Ulrich. How did it come about?
“I wrote a story set in an Iranian ex-pat radio station in San Francisco. We heard about Kabul Dreams, who had just moved to San Francisco, and the producer said, ‘It would be really cool if they were part of the story of this radio station.’ And Metallica were my favourite band in my teens
– I was completely obsessed with them. So we sent the script to Lars via a friend of the producer, and he read it and said, ‘I’m in!’”
What was he like on set?
“He was great. This was a very lowbudget film, and the set wasn’t grand or comfortable, but he was great. He had researched Kabul Dreams, and researched my previous film. There’s a scene where he talks to the band about their background – that was based on the questions he had. And he came to the US premiere and appeared onstage. He was a really good sport.”
Why Metallica? Why not another metal band, or even a band from another genre?
“In Iran, after the [Islamic] revolution in 1979, Western music was outlawed.
Possession of that kind of music, of playing it live, was illegal. There was forceful implementation of those ideals. Metal and rock became the ultimate show of rebellion, and Metallica were the most prominent bands that people listened to. Having a poster of Ride The Lightning or Master Of Puppets, even in private, was a big ‘Fuck you!’”
Kabul Dreams are from Afghanistan. Why didn’t you use an Iranian rock band?
“Culturally, Iranians and Afghans have a lot of similarities, but Afghan society is way more traditional, even with all of Iran’s restrictions. For Kabul Dreams to have emerged from that society was a much bigger deal. One of the parallels we tried to point out was, ‘Here is Afghanistan’s first rock band meeting the world’s biggest rock band in an Iranian radio station in San Francisco with very few listeners.’ Just the absurdity of it all.”
Did the teenage you fanboy out at meeting Lars?
“I really did. There’s a photograph of me on a school trip to Calais in the early 90s with a poster of Metallica playing live, and I’m kissing the poster. My friends sent me the picture and said, ‘Show this to Lars!’ I was, like, ‘No way!’”