GHOST leader Tobias Forge has confirmed that footage from the band’s recent two shows at the Forum in Inglewood, California will be used as part of a future film project.
“When I first started putting it together, I was, like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to faint because there’s so much to think about,'” Forge told Metal Hammer magazine in an interview which will be available to read in full from this Thursday. “Then it was, like, ‘No, no, just don’t think about it at all.'”
Both GHOST shows at the Forum were device-free experiences. Use of phones and smart watches was not permitted in the performance space. Upon arrival at the venue, devices were secured in individual Yondr pouches that were opened at the end of the event.
“I have never seen a crowd interact the way that they did since I was in a club band,” Forge said. “They were the best shows I’ve ever done with GHOST, just because I didn’t have to see those fucking mobile phones.”
Tobias went on to say that GHOST was “essentially shooting a film. And we used two nights of crowds as extras,” he explained. “It’s going to be a film with a concert element. So a lot of what you experienced [at the two L.A. shows] is going to be part of this project.”
Tobias was also asked if the GHOST film will be similar to METALLICA‘s “Through The Never”, which starred members of the iconic rock band and Dane DeHaan (“Chronicle”, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”). DeHaan played a young band crew member who is sent out on an urgent mission while the band is playing a rousing live set in front of a sold-out crowd and unexpectedly finds his world turned completely upside down. Forge replied: “In the sense that it’s a concert with something else combined.”
At the Forum shows, GHOST performed the song “Twenties” live for the very first time live. They also played their cover of Roky Erikson‘s “If You Have Ghosts”, which was originally reimagined by GHOST for their 2013 EP “If You Have Ghost”. The band’s version of the track at the Forum featured two cellists with a piano playing, and it was performed on a separate stage from the rest of the set.
Back in 2019, Forge told Revolver that there was a GHOST feature film in the works. He added, however, that this wouldn’t be your typical “rockumentary” or even a concert film, but something else entirely.
“Most films about bands are biographical, and I see no reason to tell our story yet,” Forge said. “It’s a little bit like premature ejaculation. You have to have a career first and then you can tell the real story, so that was never an option. And when you yank away that, what do you have? Well, that would be a fictional story.”
When Forge spoke to Revolver about the GHOST film four years ago, he explained that it would be a while before the project came to fruition.
“The cog wheels are turning on that one,” he said. “We’re just trying to figure out a lot of the practicalities. Making a film is a big endeavor. Another problem that I have had over the course of my career is that I don’t have a shit-ton of time. I’ve learned over the years that it’s really important not to do everything at once.”