THE BUSINESS OF ARTISTIC FREEDOM: An interview with I Am Trying To Break Your Heart director Sam Jones. By Warren Curry 7/27/02 Part 2 of 2

What was Jay Bennett's reaction to the film? The film didn't portray him in the most flattering light.

The one thing Jay said to me, which was hard to hear but I guess in head is true was, "A film that is really pro-Wilco is really anti-Jay Bennett." I didn't really think that was so accurate because I don't think the film is so pro-Wilco. I think it's more pro-artist. It doesn't always show the band necessarily in the best light, but it shows that if you stick to your guns creatively and don't let someone change your work, the results can be great. I think what Jay was responding to is that Wilco goes on and has this successful ending to this story and they release the record under a label that's giving them more freedom and more money, and Rolling Stone says it's a great record. Jay goes off and is not heard from again in the movie. I think his experience watching it is just harder. Reliving that year is a whole different experience for him than it is for the rest of the band. He did tell me that he thought it was accurate. We went through different scenes together -- the argument, his interview -- he thought all of those things were good, he just felt that it was a hard thing for him to relive. I didn't go into that much detail with him on it; I just knew that the experience wasn't going to be the same for him. For the rest of the band, it's probably like, "We made it through that year and now we're rocking and we love the sound of the new four piece." To him, it's like "I was in this band for seven years. When I wind up getting fired is when the cameras are on." To his credit, Jay was very cool to keep on talking to me and letting me film him solo after it ended. He could've said, "Screw it, I'm out of this whole process," and it would've been very hard for me to wrap up the story. He's smart too -- it would've been unfair to talk to everyone else about the situation and not hear his side.

The film depicts Jeff as the obvious dominant force of the band. It almost seems like he could have any backing musicians. Is that a fair statement to make?

I don't think so, because if that was the case he would've kept Jay.

But it also seemed that, while Jay may not have challenged Jeff, he wanted to be more of a contributor than Jeff would allow.

I know that Jeff made the decision with the rest of the band. They've really been a core group, and they all made that decision as a band. They made it in the spirit of they wanted a more collaborative band. Jay was the only who seemed to me, and again this is just me observing, but he was the one that maybe didn't see it as a more collaborative thing. He saw it more as a Jeff and Jay thing, but I can tell you now that I've sat in on all the sessions for the new record, and it's more collaborative and more of this creative, artistic commune than I've ever seen with them. I think that's the misconception -- that Jay had to be kicked out because Jeff wanted to control it more and didn't want a collaborator. It's more like Jeff was looking for the right chemistry between four people. Jeff is a fantastic songwriter and he is the singer. Jay never wrote any words, so there's no way he's not going to be dominant as far as the theme or the message or the shape the band takes. That's just always going to be the case. All those decisions are not made in the spirit of control, because Jeff has all the control without even needing to have it. He's a growing artist and he wants to experiment and keep on moving forward. I didn't see it as a power thing at all.

Do you fear that people will come to this film with some incorrect preconceptions because it is a music documentary?

It's so hard to make a film like this without people saying, "Oh, is it like Wilco 'Behind The Music?'" That form has been watered down so much. Music documentaries are mostly so bad and it's not even like the bar has been set that high. Our best music documentaries are like Don't Look Back and Gimme Shelter. Gimme Shelter needed a spontaneous murder to elevate it to that level. Filmmakers mostly forget that the thing they're making the movie about is the music. They usually wind up giving you a 20-second clip of the music, and then it's back to the coke whores or the car crashes or whatever it is that they think is interesting to someone so they can grab their attention for 15 minutes. That's why David Fricke was so great, because (he observed) that our culture has changed into where we don't have time to find things and discover things and spend time with them.

Click here to read Warren's review of I am Trying to Break Your Heart

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