Clapton Doc Announced, As He Plays For John Wetton
A career-spanning documentary about the life and times of Eric Clapton is in production, as the guitar giant bids farewell to the late English bassist John Wetton by posting a short new instrumental tribute to him.
Variety reports that the documentary will be titled A Life In 12 Bars, directed by Lili Fini Zanuck and produced by John Battsek, the producer of Searching for Sugar Man. Editor Chris King, who worked on Asif Kapadia’s Amy and Senna biopics, is also part of the production team.
“Clapton’s music is the foundation of our film, said Zanuck in a statement. “His commitment to the blues, its traditions and originators, is absolute from his earliest days. He was also forever restless in his search of a suitable vehicle to shape and grow his artistic voice, often bewildering fans and the media with sudden changes in musical direction, bands, songs, guitar style, tone and physical appearance.”
No release date has yet been set for the film, but footage from it will be shown to potential buyers at the European Film Market, part of the Berlin International Film Festival, from 9-17 February. The filmmakers say that they were given unprecedented access to Clapton’s “extensive personal archive of classic performance clips, on- and off-stage footage, iconic photos, concert posters, handwritten letters, drawings and personal diary entries.”
Last week, within hours of the announcement of the death of Asia and former King Crimson bass player Wetton, Clapton posted a poignant acoustic guitar instrumental via his Facebook page. Scroll down to find the link to the post on Clypster, which runs just 1’35”. Titled simply ‘For John W,’ the piece is Eric’s take on the 1940s standard ‘How High The Moon.’ He paid tribute in a similar way when his former Cream colleague Jack Bruce died in 2014.
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