Shine a Light (2008)

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Release Date:

4 April 2008 (Brazil)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Plot:

A career-spanning documentary on the Rolling Stones, with concert footage from their "A Bigger Bang" tour.

Plot Keywords:

Rolling Stones | IMAX Version | Live Performance | Rock Music | Concert

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Mick Jagger	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Keith Richards	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Charlie Watts	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Ron Wood	...	Himself (as Ronnie Wood)
Christina Aguilera	...	Herself
Buddy Guy	...	Himself
Jack White	...	Himself (as Jack White III)
Darryl Jones	...	Himself
Lisa Fischer	...	Herself
Bernard Fowler	...	Himself
Blondie Chaplin	...	Himself
Chuck Leavell	...	Himself
Bobby Keys	...	Himself
Tim Ries	...	Himself
Martin Scorsese	...	Himself
Bill Clinton	...	Himself
Robert Richardson	...	Himself (as Bob Richardson)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Byrdie Bell	...	Herself
Gary Cherkassky	...	Paparazzi (as Igor Cherkassky)
Hillary Rodham Clinton	...	Herself
Aleksander Kwasniewski	...	Himself
Kimberly Magness	...	Herself
Albert Maysles	...	Himself
Rebecca Merle	...	Red Carpet VIP
Michael Ciesla	...	Stagecrew (uncredited)
Michael Gross	...	Fan at concert (uncredited)
Brian Jones	...	Himself (uncredited) (archive footage)
Bruce Willis	...	Himself (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Bill Wyman	...	Himself (uncredited) (archive footage)

Directed by
Martin Scorsese

Produced by
Steve Bing	....	producer
Michael Cohl	....	producer
Mick Jagger	....	executive producer
Victoria Pearman	....	producer
Keith Richards	....	executive producer
Jane Rose	....	co-executive producer
Charlie Watts	....	executive producer
Zane Weiner	....	producer
Ron Wood	....	executive producer (as Ronnie Wood)

Cinematography by
Robert Richardson

Film Editing by
David Tedeschi

Makeup Department
Caroline Clements	....	hair department head
Caroline Clements	....	makeup department head
Bridget O'Neill	....	makeup artist: second unit, New York
Jeffrey Rebelo	....	key hair stylist: New York
Patricia Regan	....	key makeup artist: New York

Production Management
Brad Arensman	....	post-production supervisor
Kelley Cribben	....	post-production supervisor
Carol Cuddy	....	unit production manager
Carla Raij	....	assistant production manager
Paul Springer	....	post-production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eric Richard Lasko	....	additional second assistant director
Amy Lauritsen	....	second assistant director
Joseph P. Reidy	....	first assistant director
John Silvestri	....	second second assistant director
Peter Thorell	....	second assistant director: second unit
Richard E. White	....	additional assistant director

Art Department
Manuel Plank-Jorge	....	storyboard artist

Sound Department
Marko A. Costanzo	....	foley artist
Chris Fielder	....	assistant sound editor
Tom Fleischman	....	sound re-recording mixer
Bret Johnson	....	sound re-recordist
George A. Lara	....	foley mixer
Danny Michael	....	sound recordist
Fred Rosenberg	....	dialogue editor
Philip Stockton	....	supervising sound editor

Visual Effects by
Ron Ames	....	visual effects producer
Vlad Bina	....	digital set designer
Danny Braet	....	digital effects supervisor
Paola Chavez	....	DMR digital artist: IMAX
Adam Gerstel	....	visual effects editor
Ben Grossmann	....	visual effects supervisor: The Syndicate
Alex Henning	....	lead compositor: The Syndicate
Dragos Jieanu	....	painter
Sam Khorshid	....	visual effects
Stephen Lawes	....	compositor
Stephen Lawes	....	main title designer
Robert Legato	....	consultant
Tracey McLean	....	DMR artist
Alexandru Popescu	....	painter
Madhava Reddy	....	digital intermediate
Shinichi Rembutsu	....	visual effects artist
Mag Sarnowska	....	DMR: IMAX
Jonathan Stone	....	visual effects producer: The Syndicate
Wilson Tang	....	digital restoration
Rainy Venne	....	DMR artist (IMAX version)
Magdalena Wolf	....	visual effects coordinator: The Syndicate
Jesse Klein	....	assistant visual effects editor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Mitchell Amundsen	....	camera operator
James W. Apted	....	assistant camera
Hilary Benas	....	camera loader
Kelly Britt	....	electrician
Patrick Capone	....	camera operator
Sean Cassidy	....	dolly grip
Chris Centrella	....	key grip
Howard Davidson	....	dolly grip
David Devlin	....	lighting director
Robert DiGiacomo	....	assistant camera
Stuart Dryburgh	....	camera operator
David M. Dunlap	....	camera operator
Robert Elswit	....	camera operator
Kevin Gilligan	....	dolly grip
Phil Gosiewski	....	film camera technician
John Grillo	....	first assistant camera
Chris Haarhoff	....	steadicam operator
Michael Haertlein	....	camera runner
George Hennah	....	first assistant camera
Barry Idoine	....	supervising first assistant camera
Tony C. Jannelli	....	camera operator
Lukasz Jogalla	....	camera operator
Denny Kortze	....	second assistant camera
John Krause	....	dolly grip
Jeff Kunkel	....	dolly grip
Ellen Kuras	....	camera operator
Andrew Lesnie	....	camera operator
Abby Levine	....	video engineer
Emmanuel Lubezki	....	camera operator
Lindsay Mann	....	camera runner
Anastas N. Michos	....	camera operator
Adam Miller	....	second assistant camera
Zac Nicholson	....	camera production assistant
Christopher Piazza	....	film loader
Declan Quinn	....	camera operator
Leigh Rathner	....	assistant camera
Brad Rea	....	dolly grip
Jim Richards	....	chief lighting technician
Lance Rieck	....	remote head technician
Andrew Rowlands	....	camera operator
Liz Sales	....	assistant camera
Gerard Sava	....	camera operator
Randy Schwartz	....	additional camera loader
Steven Search	....	first assistant camera
Gregor Tavenner	....	additional first assistant camera
John Toll	....	camera operator
Christina Voros	....	camera runner
Harry Zimmerman	....	first assistant camera
Stephanie Zimmer	....	assistant camera

Casting Department
Jennifer Sabel	....	extras casting

Editorial Department
Stephen Nakamura	....	digital film colorist
Devin Sterling	....	digital intermediate producer
Stephen P. Arkle	....	digital intermediate colorist (uncredited)
Mark Sahagun	....	digital intermediate editor (uncredited)
Marc Wielage	....	colorist (uncredited)

Music Department
Bob Clearmountain	....	music mixer
Tass Filipos	....	music editor

Other crew
Ethan Anderson	....	production assistant
Jack Bavaro	....	first assistant production accountant
Peter Brogna	....	film runner
Victoria Carter	....	production secretary
Daniel B. Cone	....	set production assistant
Roberto De Jesus	....	mag runner
Deb Dyer	....	production accountant
Glenn Ferrara	....	production assistant
Jason Fesel	....	set production assistant
Grant Gaughen	....	set production assistant
Chris Gibson	....	key set production assistant
Bill Gula	....	photosonics operator
Alex Horwitz	....	production assistant
Chiemi Karasawa	....	script supervisor
James Klayer	....	key loader
Kip Myers	....	location assistant
Craig Nix	....	techno crane
Matthew Pratt-Hewitt	....	film runner
Morgan Roche	....	additional office production assistant
Nicholas Thomason	....	assistant production coordinator
Mimi Turner	....	location manager
Kim Weiler	....	travel coordinator
Larry Yelen	....	archival clearance

Production Companies

• Concert Promotions International
• Shangri-La Entertainment

Distributors

• 20th Century Fox Australia (2008) (Australia) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Australia (2008) (New Zealand) (theatrical)
• Bazuca Films (2008) (Chile) (theatrical)
• Best Film CO (2008) (Poland) (theatrical)
• Bioscop (2008) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• D Productions (2008) (Turkey) (all media)
• Distribution Company (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Filmes Lusomundo (2008) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Golden Scene (2008) (Hong Kong) (all media)
• Imagem Filmes (2008) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Kinowelt Filmverleih (2008) (Germany) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Paramount Vantage (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Tohokushinsha Film (2007) (Japan) (all media)
• Tohokushinsha Film (2008) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Company (2008) (UK) (theatrical)
• Türk Film (2008) (Yugoslavia) (theatrical)
• United King Films (2008) (Israel) (all media)
• United King Films (2008) (Israel) (theatrical)
• Vértigo Films (2008) (Spain) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• ARRI / Camera Service Center  camera equipment provided by
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Fortissimo Films  international sales
• Interscope Records  soundtrack
• Soundtrack F/T  sound post-production

Also Known As:

Shine a Light (USA) (working title)
Shine a Light: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
Untitled Rolling Stones Documentary (USA) (working title)
Untitled Stones/Scorsese Film (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, drug references and smoking. (edited for re-rating; originally rated R for some language)

Runtime:

Argentina:122 min | USA:122 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Sonics-DDP (IMAX version) | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:S | Hong Kong:IIA | Australia:M | Ireland:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43785) | Germany:o.Al. | Argentina:Atp | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Norway:A | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Brazil:Livre

Filming Locations:

Beacon Theatre, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Concert Promotions International

Trivia:

Mick Jagger originally pitched the idea to shoot the film on the beach in Rio De Janeiro, capturing the Stones during a massive free concert as part of their Bigger Bang world tour. Martin Scorsese thought about it and even considered shooting the film in IMAX 3D format before coming to the decision to shoot the film in the more intimate Beacon Theater. According to Scorsese, this setting was much closer to his sensibilities.

Quotes:

Keith Richards: Hi, Clinton. I'm "Bushed"!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-04-05)" (2008)

Out Of Their Heads: Scorsese Captures England's Oldest Hitmakers

We see footage from 1973 of Mick Jagger, donning a get-up of satanic majesty, sitting atop a crudely colored couch before a show. Laughs escape his signature lips as he verbally disorients the questions of his interviewer. "Do you see yourself doing this sort of thing when you're sixty?" asks the man. Jagger's face turns serious, and without missing a beat answers: "Yeah. Easily." The man is surprised –and he should be, because who would've thought? The stamina and consistency of The Rolling Stones is the greatest of all rock 'n' roll acts, and this is confirmed in Martin Scorsese's "Shine a Light"; possibly the most intimate and revealing music-film ever shot. The show plays not as a nostalgia-soaked sendoff for The Stones, but as a powerful reminder of how great they remain to be.

The film, which one would assume to be a pleasure-seeking detour for the world's greatest director, is actually surprisingly unique and significant for The Stones. The band has been in about half dozen films before (Sympathy For The Devil, Gimme Shelter); but no one makes a rock-doc like Scorsese. The director has made two rockumentaries prior to this one: The Last Waltz, his schmaltzy farewell concert for The Band, and No Direction Home, his fascinating portrait of Bob Dylan –and here he takes elements from both of those approaches, but is mainly focused with giving us an up-close night with The Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Band in the World.

Scorsese made the right choice in filming the show in a small venue; here we get to see the band function; we see how they read each other and how much they love what they do. The Stones remain to be the most physically engaging and expressive of all bands, making use of every inch of their modest setting. Jagger scurries about the stage with the velocity of a performer a quarter of his age –he absorbs the vibrations of his bandmates and uses the energy to conduct his audience; responding to the music with monkey-mannish ferocity. Keith Richards puffs smoke amongst the spotlight and flicks picks into the crowd not simply for doing so, but to fantastically cinematic effect. Watts wears his grimace while punishing the drums as Ronnie Wood swaggers about the platform, complimenting his peers' every spasm. Even in their sixties The Stones make new bands on TV (both mainstream and your precious "indie" alike) look like petrified marsupials. They perform with such nature and grace, yet with so much spontaneity and animalism.

The set list is a continuing surprise, with the band digging up gems as old as "As Tears Go by" and "Connection". Many of the tunes were never performed live before, including the Muddy Waters' song "Cocaine and Reefer" –a number that turns into a blues-soaked duel between Buddy Guy and Jagger. Other guests include Jack White who helps in "Loving Cup" and Christina Aguilera who sings opposite Jagger on "Live With Me".

Like all Scorsese stories, there is a tragic hero, and this films finds its with Richards. The guitarist has been recently quoted as saying he regrets his unfathomable bodily abuse, and here we see old interviews where a younger version of Keith tries to explain how he's made this far: "… I guess my luck hasn't run out yet." We later see footage from a recent interview, where the rocker is asked where his mind goes when he performs; he coolly responds: "I don't think when I'm on stage. I feel." How The Stones have made it this far on a diet of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll is a question without an answer –and how it is that they remain so good is another. "Shine a Light" presents the growth and inner workings of The Rolling Stones like no film before, and at the same time puts on a damn good rock show. The Stones are still very much around and have no plans of stopping –and they shouldn't. The film is a brilliant union of sound and imagery, cut with masterful immediacy. You already know how great the songs are, so I guess all that's left for me to say for you to enjoy their use is this film.