Robbie Robertson and The Band are the subjects of a new documentary,Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band.
Martin Scorsese, who directed the film of the original Band's final concert,The Last Waltz, is the executive producer, along with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Documentaries, and three Canadian companies.
Robertson tells Billboardthat the doc, due out in the fall, is "highly influenced by [my 2016 memoir]Testimony and, and as the filmmakers have gone deeper and deeper into that world, it has taken in more things than just what I was talking about in telling this story... This project originated in Canada and the filmmakers were the ones that came to me and said, 'We have to make this documentary.'"
In addition to rare archival footage, there will be interviews with Eric Clapton, who wanted to join The Band, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison ,Peter Gabriel, Ronnie Hawkins and others.
"I have no idea what they said about me," says Robertson. "The filmmakers aren't going,'We're trying to see if we can get a bunch of famous people in this.' They're really focused on the filmmaking and telling a story that we haven't heard before. I'm looking forward to seeing what they're doing. There's great people involved in it."
If the film stays true to the timeline in Testimony, then it will end, like the book, in 1976 when The Band staged The Last Waltz in San Francisco.
Robertson, who was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame last Thursday at Toronto's Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards, will release his sixth album in the fall.