I Trust You To Kill Me

by Matt Thackston of MuseNashville.org


April 22nd, 2006 will go down in my personal history for only one reason:  it's the day I found myself in the same room as Jack Bauer.

Many of you may not know this, but Nashville puts on a pretty great film festival every year at the Green Hills Cinema.  Now entering its 38th year, the Nashville Film Festival has become the hot new venue for screening those lesser known independent films that Nashville would otherwise miss.  My wife and I have made it a point to check out a few films every year and we've never been disappointed.  But this year they really outdid themselves by hosting the world premiere of I Trust You To Kill Me right here in little ol' Nashville. 

I Trust You To Kill Me is a documentary about Rocco DeLuca and The Burden, a fantastic band out of Los Angeles that just happens to be signed to Ironworks Music, a label started by Kiefer Sutherland and Jude Cole.  The documentary traces the band's first European tour with their completely inept tour manager, the great Kiefer Sutherland himself.  It's an interesting peek into the inner workings of a band on the road, and in the process of showing the ups and downs of touring, we get a glimpse into Kiefer's own world of inner demons and shortcomings. 

If you haven't already guessed, the best part of this screening was that it was attended by Rocco DeLuca, director Manu Boyer, producer Pliny Porter (best Hollywood name in the room, by far), and of course Kiefer Sutherland himself. 

Believe it or not, more than a few people came out simply to see Jack, um, Kiefer.  Not us!  We were all about judging the artistic integrity of the band, critiquing the director's choices in making the film...okay, we just came to see Kiefer.   Sue us. 

We arrived at the theater a little over two hours in advance and took our place in the already ridiculously long line.  The ratio of 24 fans versus Rocco DeLuca fans was about 402:1.  This happened right after Kiefer was interviewed by Rolling Stone, and we saw approximately 147 Rolling Stone magazines tucked under the arms of expectant fans.  We also saw homemade CTU shirts, various 24 swag, portable DVD players on which 24 was being viewed, and my personal favorite, someone dressed as Tony Almeida, complete with soul patch, that weird swagger/walk, and his patented extra-loud whisper.  Okay, I made that last part up, but the rest of it is true.  We even heard a cell phone with the CTU ringtone.  It made me question my superfandom. 

We were finally allowed to take our seats, and our strategy was to sit as close to the front as possible, since we figured that would give us the best view of Kiefer when he introduced the film.  Our genius move paid off, as Kiefer entered the theater from the emergency exit directly in front of us and approached center stage.  He was dressed entirely in black, looking very Bauer-esque indeed. 

Two things struck us about Kiefer.  First, he's really short.  Shorter than me, and I'm 5'7".  Technically I already knew this, but it's a little disorienting in person.  I know they use fancy TV tricks to make him appear taller on TV, but it's really the fact that he's a ruthless mofo that makes you think he's at least 8 feet tall.  Well, he's not, and I thought you should know.

Second, he is probably the most humble and appreciative celebrity I've ever seen.  He is totally sold on Rocco, and he was obviously very excited and nervous about the screening.  He basically just thanked everyone for coming out to see the film and sang the praises of the band during his introduction.  He made sure that the night wasn't about him, even though for almost everyone there, it was about him.  It was very apparent that he is a huge music fan, and he wants nothing more than to see this band succeed.  After making the introduction, he slipped out of the same exit, and that was the last we saw of him.  I'm pretty sure that he slipped in the back to watch the screening with us, but he was gone before it was over.  No autograph signings, no major hoopla, no drawing additional attention to  himself.  It was very classy, doing everything he could to focus the attention on the film and the band. 

As for the movie, we were pleasantly surprised, as was the entire audience.  We honestly didn't expect much, and were amazed at how good this was.  As a musician myself, I will certainly purchase this when it comes out on DVD purely for the "struggling band on the road" angle.  Having Kiefer in the movie is just an added bonus.  We get some documentary footage from the set of 24 (the episodes where they are trapped in the situation room at CTU because of the gas - pretty cool), and we get a ton of interviews with Kiefer about the band and about himself.  Plus, the now infamous story about Kiefer taking out a hotel Christmas tree is well documented here.  That's right, you get to see it happen in all of its glory.  That in itself was worth the price of admission.

Anyway, this movie is great, and if it comes to a theater near you it's a must-see.  Did I mention that the music is great too?  That certainly doesn't hurt.  For some clips, check out the Rocco DeLuca And The Burden myspace, you won't be disappointed.   Check out the trailer for the movie here, and if you want to see Kiefer take out a Christmas tree...well, we aim to please.

I Trust You To Kill Me begins playing in major cities starting September 8th.  They are listing all of the screenings on the website, so keep checking there for updates.