DiG!

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DiG!
Directed by	Ondi Timoner
Produced by	Ondi Timoner
Written by	Ondi Timoner
Starring	Anton Newcombe Courtney Taylor-Taylor Joel Gion
Cinematography	Vasco Nunes David Timoner Ondi Timoner
Editing by	Ondi Timoner
Distributed by	Palm Pictures
Release date(s)	January 18, 2004
Running time	107 min
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

DiG! is a 2004 documentary film directed by Ondi Timoner, and produced by Ondi Timoner, Vasco Nunes and David Timoner. Compiled from seven years of footage, it contrasts the developing careers of the bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre and the bands' respective frontmen Courtney Taylor and Anton Newcombe. It won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Newcombe argues that the documentary was unfair in its portrayal of him. On the band's official website, Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman Anton Newcombe publicly denounced the film as reducing several years of hard work to "at best a series of punch-ups and mishaps taken out of context, and at worst bold faced lies and misrepresentation of fact."

[edit] Synopsis

Compiled from 2,000 hours of footage and narrated by Courtney Taylor, DiG! follows the underground artist Anton Newcombe, revealing him to be one of the more important (during the film, Newcombe claims to be able to play over eighty musical instruments) yet comparatively unnoticed artists of our time.

In 1996, Anton Newcombe and his band, The Brian Jonestown Massacre – who in a decade independently released 11 albums, 3 recorded in one year – are hell-bent on staging a revolution in the music industry. They are convinced their friends, The Dandy Warhols, will join them to create a united front. But Anton destroys every opportunity for financial success, either because he's drunk/high on drugs, or just because he can't conform to what the record labels need him to do.

While tracking the destructive path of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, DIG! also accompanies the more "well-adjusted" Warhols through their leader Courtney Taylor, as they navigate the corporate sea, trying to maintain their creative edge while starring in mega-budget music videos and entertaining crowds in the tens of thousands.

The Dandy Warhols' and The Brian Jonestown Massacre's friendship gradually grow further apart as Anton's destructive nature and extreme jealously creates tension between the two bands. (At one point, Newcombe sends each of The Dandy Warhols shotgun shells with their names carved into them; The Dandy Warhols subsequently have a restraining order put on Newcombe).

[edit] Cast

Musician	Band
Anton Newcombe	Lead singer - BJM
Courtney Taylor-Taylor	Lead singer - DW
Joel Gion	Percussion - BJM
Matt Hollywood	Guitar, vocals - BJM
Peter Holmstrom	Guitar - DW
Zia McCabe	Percussion, Keyboard - DW
Brent DeBoer	drummer - DW
Eric Hedford	drummer - DW
Dean Taylor	Guitar - BJM
Peter Hayes	Guitar - BJM
Genesis P-Orridge	commentator
Adam Shore	commentator