Cela faisait plus de trois ans que je n'avais pas revu Stewart. Je l'avais longuement interviewé et photographié à l'occasion de l'intronisation de The Police au Rock'n Roll Hall en Fame, en mars 2003. Depuis, je m'étais consacré à l'écriture et à la réalisation de mon dernier livre, sur un chanteur français du nom de Bernard Lavilliers. Ce projet terminé, j'ai repris contact avec Stewart, pour un projet précis que j'avais en tête depuis quelques temps.

Après plusieurs conversations téléphoniques, il m'avait proposé de le rejoindre à Monaco, à l'occasion d'une projection de son film qui fut finalement annulée. Deux autres options s'offraient désormais à moi pour cette rencontre : l'Allemagne ou l'Italie. Mes racines m'incitèrent à choisir la première destination, et je rejoignis donc Stewart Copeland dans un superbe palace de la plus italienne des villes allemandes, pris d'assaut par les Rolling Stones (croiser Mick Jagger dans un ascenseur sans être prévenu au préalable est une expérience peu commune).

La journée était splendide et l'atmosphère de la ville incitait à la détente. La Bavière peut désormais compter sur moi pour vanter les qualités de sa capitale, dont la plus évidente est une vraie réussite écologique basé sur une intégration de la nature au sein même de la ville. Mais bon, je m'éloigne du sujet...

J'ai donc retrouvé Stewart dans une forme éblouissante. Après quelques minutes à parler du projet 'The Police, Set Them 3', nous avons commencé l'interview. Comme à son habitude, le fondateur du groupe The Police, compositeur de films à succès et héros d'une émission de télé réalité en Angleterre, a fait preuve d'une franchise et d'une vitalité rafraîchissantes. A mon humble avis, son charisme est de plus en plus évident les années passant. Il était temps que les jeunes générations le redécouvrent.

Cette interview, ainsi que celle du compositeur et musicien Eberhard Schoener (que j'ai eu le plaisir de rencontrer pour la première fois), ayant été réalisé dans le cadre de mon projet, prévu pour voir le jour l'année prochaine, ne peut malheureusement pas vous être proposé aujourd'hui. En attendant, je vous délivre tel quel le reportage (en anglais) du célèbre Dietmar, référence dans l'univers des collectionneurs de The Police, qui a eu la gentillesse de m'écrire un texte riche et très fidèle aux événements. Celui-ci est accompagné de quelques photos que j'ai pu prendre pendant cette journée particulière.

Dietmar est souvent cité par Stewart Copeland lui-même, celui-ci ayant fait appel à ses connaissances et  à son sens du détail lors de la préparation de son film. Il est d'ailleurs remercié au générique. J'en profite d'ailleurs pour lui renouveler mes propres sincères remerciements.

A présent je m'efface, la parole est à Dietmar (traduction française à venir dans les jours prochains) :

"As most of you know Stewart Copeland bought a Super8-Camera in the late 70s and shot a lot of home movies. Bits and pieces of these films were shown on documentaries like OUTLANDOS TO SYNCHRONICITIES and BEHIND THE MUSIC. THE POLICE's fans could only dream of seeing more of this material... After years of hoping Stewart cut the 50 hours of material he filmed over the years into a movie. He presented it at the 2006 Sundance film festival and in several other US cities.

On his 54th birthday Stewart Copeland had nothing better to do than to present his movie about THE POLICE at Munich's film festival (München Filmfest).

THE POLICE and Munich have a certain common history. Thanks to their early collaboration with Eberhard Schoener Munich was the German town they spent the most time in - recording with Eberhard, playing gigs or appearing in the occasional TV show.

Although Germany isn't too big, travelling to Munich is still quite a journey. I thought about it for a long time. I've never seen THE POLICE live. Met Stewart only briefly once. Then I had already seen the movie he was about to present. Still as I was somehow involved in this project, I decided to drive there. I wanted to see the movie on a big screen with great sound. It was an added bonus that not only would Stewart be there and do some Q&A after the screening, but the film would be introduced by Eberhard Schoener. 

So I HAD to drive there. 7 hours alone in a borrowed car during the hottest July Germany ever experienced... Arriving at the cinema way too early I made sure I got my ticket. I could have gone in for free - as not only Stewart's manager would have provided one but also a friend of mine from way back who happens to know Eberhard Schoener. But a fan has to buy a ticket, that's my opinion. That's also nicer for the collection !

There were a lot of actors and film people around and inside the cinema. There didn't seem to be too much interest in Stewart's movie. I could see from a plan in the hall that Cinema 5 was quite a big one and had worries that only few people would show up... 

My old buddy introduced me and other fans to Eberhard Schoener. Shortly before people were allowed to enter Cinema 5, Stewart could be seen coming down the stairs on his own. People went in and the large room filled much better than I feared. About 2/3 full. Stewart and Eberhard took seats 2 rows behind me.

A woman from the film festival told the audience why they were here. As if they didn't know... then she introduced Eberhard. He told us about his connection to THE POLICE and about Stewart in person and his movie.

The movie started. It looked nice on the big screen. But you won't miss much NOT having seen it in a cinema. After all the source for all this is Super8 and the picture quality is probably better when seen on a small screen. Too bad that the sound was not good. The 5.1 surround sound was presented in some other way so that the music was always much louder than the spoken words. It actually hurt at some moments and I had to protect my ears...

The movie went on in a slightly different version than the one at Sundance. I guess some persons which have nothing to do with the POLICE got cut out (at least one I did notice). Some credits changed, too. But nothing to worry about all the behind-the-scenes parts with THE POLICE.

So the movie was over and Stewart was forced to step forward. Someone from the audience said a shy "happy birthday" and Stewart thanked him. He answered a lot of questions concerning the making of the movie, the past, the reactions of Sting and Andy etc...

For Stewart the making of this movie was the final chapter for THE POLICE: "It's done". Sting didn't care to watch the movie, because he didn't like to watch himself on film. Andy liked it!

Stewart could talk for hours - and he should! He was very funny and reminded me of Joss Wheadon (or those who don't know him: he created Buffy, Angel and Firefly and directed his first feature with Serenity. This man can talk for hours and still be funny).

As Stewart answered a question about how difficult it was to get all the persons' OK for their appearance in the movie, he told the story how I found two artists. I couldn't believe my ears when he made me stand up and honoured my "work". He explained that everybody who was not a member of an audience had to be asked for his OK. Plus every logo in the movie had to be cleared, if it was a Disney shirt or a pack of cigarettes. So that was a lot of work no one usually thinks about...

This whole Q&A was filmed, but not by Stewart's people. Can't say more about it, but it's nothing you will see on the EVERYONE STARES DVD (it seems that there's another Police film project around. This documentary is due for broadcast next year. It is much too early to tell more. Thank you Dietmar for staying silent). Stewart had to end this at one time and agreed to autograph some stuff outside later. I had the pleasure of being able to congratulate him and give him a small birthday present. Outside there were not too many geeks who wanted autographs, so this was soon done.

The same people who had filmed Stewart's Q&A (and an interview during the afternoon) also interviewed Eberhard Schoener in Cinema 5. It was a pleasure to be a witness to that. I can understand everbody who doesn't really like Eberhard's music. But this is a quiet and serious man who's still very passionate about music in general. He mentioned that he noticed that the members of THE POLICE were different than other rock musicians. They could read notes; they were very disciplined. And although he didn't really click to their music (because it's just not his kind of music) he knew that it was something special. He kept up the relationships to the individual members.

Stewart entered the room during the interview, smiled all over his face and spread his arms to give Eberhard a hug from over 20 feet away. Eberhard smiled and nodded. After all was done at the cinema and all fans and film people were pleased, Eberhard, Stewart and his manager Derek Power were seen leaving the cinema by foot in a very happy mood. I had to drive all the way back, but couldn't get a grin from my face for days after! "

Dietmar