‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’: The story behind 2025’s most anticipated rock-doc

Sometimes, just sometimes, the planets align. Twelve year-old Bernard MacMahon’s favourite book was a raggedy, dog-eared paperback charting how Led Zeppelin became the band that conquered all before them. His Mum sold antiques, and one of her most loyal customers was an imposing gentleman who would park his Rolls Royce out of sight, just around the corner. Bernard would encounter him numerous times. This mystery buyer was none other than Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant.

Forty-four years later, alongside producer & screenplay writer Allison McGourty, MacMahon has directed ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’, the first ever official documentary about the four English lads that transformed the musical landscape forever.

Eight years in the making, the two-hour origin story documents how the foursome found their way to becoming Led Zeppelin, breaking America, finishing off at the completion of their second record. MacMahon and McGourty are no strangers to the world of music documentary projects. Their American Epic movie focuses on an engineer’s restoration of the long-lost first electrical sound recording system from 1925. Twenty contemporary artists then attempt to record songs on it for the first time in 80 years. A novel and unique story & perspective, one which has led to it becoming hailed as one of the best music documentaries of all time.

While MacMahon and McGourty might be the filmmakers here, there’s a sense that they’re going through a rock and roll whirlwind of their own, speaking to Rolling Stone UK only a matter of hours after they touched down in London from LA. No doubt heavily jet-lagged and frazzled by hours of promo interviews, the pair still manage to reflect on the questions surrounding their latest masterpiece.

Firstly, why Led Zep? “It was a story that had never been told before and it was a story that we knew was fantastic”, beams MacMahon. “The early part of the story was super compelling and the music is very theatrical; it’s designed for big spaces.”

It certainly did McGourty and MacMahon no harm that Plant, Page and Jones all loved the American Epic feature. Also, there is a natural connection and influence that early 20th century blues & gospel songs had on Zeppelin. MacMahon explains, “They would see that music as one of the very roots of their own music. We were the first people to ever document that era, so you’re coming in with a really amazing lineage.”

One of the many things you will notice in the movie is that the Led Zeppelin songs have been very carefully chosen, and they are played pretty much in their entirety. “This is really like a musical in how it’s constructed”, says MacMahon. “Led Zeppelin songs defy cutting. They’ve got beginnings, middles and ends, so if you start cutting them, you really remove a lot of their power. All the musical pieces are telling a story. The songs are driving the narrative forward.”

For example, you’ve got the likes of ‘Communication Breakdown’ putting an exclamation mark on the early apathy of British audiences towards the band, and ‘Your Time is Gonna Come’ when they are on the verge of breaking America.

The moment of most resonance in terms of song choice however comes with the poignant use of ‘Ramble On’. McGourty picks this sequence out as one of her most beloved over the 120 minutes – “the moment in the movie where Robert [Plant] pulls out his handwritten lyrics on the old Basildon Bond writing paper. It’s a wonderfully touching moment and a beautiful song.” Reflecting on the scrawled words, Plant, who at times was pretty much a homeless journeyman, living out of a suitcase before hitting the front man jackpot, appears choked up in the film as he says: “Leaves are fallin’ all around, time I was on my way’ – that is the story of my life.”

How did the pair tackle the mammoth task of picking their way through mountains of footage and archive material without being overwhelmed? “You have to stick to what the beats of the story are even if you don’t have footage to support it,” explains MacMahon.

“The key thing is, what’s the story, then tell the story and don’t let the archive wag the dog.”

He continues, “This movie is like one of those exhibitions in the British Museum where they pulled in every artefact from Pompeii and put them all in one room.”

It also helped to have the full support and trust of the band. “They gave us complete artistic control of the film and did not interfere at all, which is remarkable,” says MacMahon. “I remember I showed Jimmy this one thing [Page playing ‘Black Mountainside’ on acoustic guitar which had contained badly damaged video footage] and said to me, which was touching – “Oh my God, I really hope that stays in the movie, because it’s such an important part of the Led Zeppelin sound.”” Interestingly, the pair also pulled in the help of VFX artist Melissa Quintas who worked on Avatar – The Way of Water to play a key role in rescuing this prized footage.

There is a truly organic, relatable and human feel to the documentary coloured by the likes of MacMahon showing video footage to the guys such as the Bath Festival of Blues in 1969, capturing how Page, Plant & Jones react, having never seen it before. A cornerstone of the movie is the previously unheard radio interviews with the late drummer John Bonham. Taken from three separate sessions, one of which was unearthed from a Sydney station, his heartfelt words highlight the love that Bonham had for the band and the three guys as people.

The film begins with the birth of Jimmy Page on 9th January 1944, a date that would be mirrored in both their pivotal Fillmore West US gig in 1969 and at the emotional 1970 homecoming concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London where the band were welcomed back as heroes.The latter scene is fittingly punctuated by a rousing version of ‘What Is and What Should Never Be.’

MacMahon reflects, “It was always gonna be this exact period and it’s a wonderful arc, isn’t it?”

There was this amazing symmetry in the story that effectively begins with Jimmy Page, born on January the 9th. They go from nowhere to the biggest band in the world in one year.”

McGourty adds: “Thereafter your story becomes similar to a lot of other people’s stories; people that have been the most popular band in the world and the things that then happen & the various forces that come in. Actually, at that point your story becomes less and less unique.”

The journey that’s told is both seismic and inspirational, demonstrating that greatness is possible with a momentous amount of work & industry. Jimmy Page, speaking towards the end of the film, is the personification of hard graft meshed with talent & belief – “If you have something that you know is different within yourself, then you have to work and work and work, but you have to believe in it, and as long as your aim is true, you can realise your dreams.”

There will be hardcore Led Zeppelin fans that will be crying out for a longer time span during the movie, but it never looked like that would be the case according to McGourty – “Our goal was to tell the origin story, and there hasn’t been any discussions about later years.”

After watching this slice of rock history, you can only hope that there’s more on the horizon.

In cinemas across the UK from Friday 7th February and in selected IMAX theatres on 5th & 6th February.