Andrea Bocelli 30: The celebration is a new concert film that pays homage to the legacy and music of one of the world’s best-known singers. Filmed during a three-day concert event, Andrea Bocelli 30: The celebration sees Bocelli performing some of his best-known renditions of classic songs in a truly unique venue, accompanied by global superstars including Ed Sheeran, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp and Sofia Vergara – many of whom are also on Bocelli’s latest album, Duetsout now. However, there’s more to it than that, as the concert film showcases Bocelli’s status among his peers through candid footage shot in Tuscany, Italy.
The show was captured by director Sam Wrench, whose work is known to audiences worldwide, even if his name is not. Wrench is a famous concert film director and his previous projects include Billie Eilish live at the O2, and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. To Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration, Wrench found a tone that suited Bocelli’s unique style, capturing the concert experience for concertgoers around the world and offering access to moments beyond what a ticket holder could see.
Screen speech spoke with Wrench about his work directing Andrea Bocelli 30: The celebration. Wrench discussed how Bocelli’s reputation and style affected the film’s aesthetic, working with the impressive array of guest artists who appeared on the show, and more. Wrench even revealed her hopes for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour cut songs for release and briefly teased what to expect from one of his upcoming projects, An Absurd Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter.
Sam Wrench details how he works with artists and creative directors to capture shows
“You always end up letting the music lead”
Artists can be quite opinionated about how they want their shows to be. I imagine you don’t always help them put on the show – is it more about capturing it?
Sam Wrench: I think it varies from project to project. [With] some, you walk in and the show is all formed, it’s great, and the artist loves it. So the question is more about: “What do they want it to be like? How do they feel when they are performing? How do they want this cinematic extension of what they created to feel?” And all the different artists have different opinions about it.
Sometimes you come in and you’re not fully formed. This was a show from scratch, so I worked with Francesco Negrin, who is the creative director. He put on an incredible show [while going] like, “That would be cool on camera” or “How can you capture that?” So there are moments here that really were just for the camera and not for the audience. So it definitely varies. But I think you always end up letting the music lead, and letting the artist and the art on stage be your kind of fulcrum and your North Star. And if you do that, then you will always be at least faithful and authentic to what happened.
You did The Tour of the Agesand you’ve worked with other great artists like Billie Eilish. Andrea Bocelli won’t run around the stage in the same way as Taylor Swift. How does the artist’s acting style make his work easier or more difficult?
Sam Wrench: Sometimes we talk about the energy that comes down through the lens [versus] the lens creating the energy. Sometimes it happens from song to song with certain artists, but usually with a Billie or Taylor type, that energy is coming to you. So yes, you want the camera movements and the visual grammar to reflect that and match, but you’re not trying to create energy from the camera movements because there’s a lot of stuff coming off the stage anyway.
Then there are other artists where, like you said, the show is more static, maybe the lighting is more static, and then you’re trying to create drama with camera movements. You’re not trying to build a rhythm and an energy that’s not in the BPM and the song, but you’re trying to bring a visual grammar that reveals and takes you from one place to another and you really lean into that. the camera moves.
Andrea was definitely the last. Mainly because he’s static, it tends to be that the artists he’s with are static, and so you want these moments of drama – these moments of revelation from the orchestra to him, the constant evolution and all that kind of stuff. So it’s really just about, at the beginning of the process, understanding what this is going to be, and then you build the camera plot to reflect that.
Wrench Talks facilitating the film’s candid conversations
The director wanted to add context and a “sense of intimacy”
For this film, you have the show itself, but you also have these shots of the field. You have this lunch going on. How did this all come about and where did the idea come from?
Sam Wrench: I think context is important in concert films. Sometimes you have so much backstory and cold talk that you don’t need to bring any context to it. For this one, it really felt right to try and get that sense of intimacy that happened night after night and in the city too. We started this idea that there would be all these little side conversations that you didn’t know about, people bumping into each other backstage and stuff, but we didn’t want to film backstage because they’re door booths and it didn’t happen. I feel very Tuscan. I wanted them to look almost random.
It’s not a documentary. There is no specific line for them. They’re just spending a nice moment with someone you’re about to see perform, or have just seen, to bring you some context and some levity. I didn’t want them to do more than make you feel warm: “Oh, that’s cool.”
We were looking Coffee and Cigarettes– the Jim Jarmusch thing. It’s just two people talking. Yes, it’s about faith, or it’s about location, but it’s not trying to have this big, all-encompassing thing with a natural beginning, middle and end. So we had this ambition and then the lunch idea came up, and it was like, “Well, that would be amazing. This will be really fruitful for lots of little moments.” It was then: “But how are we going to get out so we don’t get stuck at lunch? Let’s just schedule some other small conversations.”
And we really did. We just got off the phone with a bunch of artists and said, “Hey, do you want to talk to Andrea’s son about the importance of faith?” [The artist is] like, “Yeah, don’t worry,” [and it’s like]“Well, cool. We will do this in the little church.” Or “Sofia, do you want to have a coffee with Matteo and Aida and have a chat?” And because a lot of them were obviously coming to the show, [and] spending a few days in Lajatico. It was like, “Yeah, don’t worry.” So, it was very easy. The conversations happened very naturally.
There were some people who obviously knew each other. There’s an incredible moment with David Foster and Brian May outside on the grass, and we’re filming it from a long way away – it’s not a produced conversation. This is a genuine conversation that was happening. It turns out that one of them was miked for another scene and they are explaining how they met Andrea and how they found him. It’s a really lovely, genuine moment between two absolute legends. So, I love this moment. I also love the moment when Virginia tells Brian about her friend who loves him. It’s so genuine. The camera is not there at that moment. This is a very, very lovely artist and Brian being very sweet to his friend’s daughter at lunch at the family home, which is happening in every family home across Italy that Sunday. That’s what I love about it.
Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration Features Russell Crowe, Can Still Be Enjoyed by Miserable Haters
“I think his performance is incredible”
The last time many people saw Russell Crowe sing was in Les Misérableswhich notoriously did not please everyone. Do you think this will rescue your singing career in the eyes of viewers?
Sam Wrench: I think so. He had a good ride. He’s on the road and doing something. I think those shows went well. Yes, [that was] It was probably the last time people saw him singing in the movies, but he’s on tour. He does shows and stuff.
I think so. I think his performance is incredible, because you have no expectations. He comes out and that voice is so deep, it’s so incredible, [with] such a tone. You’re like, “Wow.” And yes, I hope so. I hope people see that too – as someone who loves acting. To do it in that landscape for a voice as good as Andrea, why not? More people should do this. If you are passionate about something, go and do it.
Wrench told theaters not to refuse the song
“There are supposed to be high levels of action all the time”
Here’s my nerdiest question for you. What’s your collaboration like with the sound people – the people who are actually capturing the audio from the stage?
Sam Wrench: We talk about audience microphone placement and all that kind of stuff, and when we start posting, I think there’s definitely a different style of mixing needed for music than storytelling. And there are some collaborators that we work with. We work with a long-time collaborator of Andrea’s, who has mixed many of her records, and we also work with John Ross in Los Angeles, who did The Eras Tour for me as well, and it’s a kind of meeting of these two worlds – cinema and music. I think it’s about the feeling of completeness and about the audience feeling kind of omnipresent.
One really interesting thing is that there is a conversation that we have with the cinemas before each film – and I send a note, or ask that a note be shared from the distributors to the cinemas – because there is a tendency to lower volumes. The way it works, from what I understand – I’m quite naive about this – is that the music almost always reads as an action sequence level.
A movie wouldn’t have a constant action sequence except for a few, and then they kind of turn it down so that the lower vocals can sound really quiet. We always ask that everything be noisy. There’s supposed to be high levels of action all the time – it’s music and it’s live music. That’s one of the big things about moving our suite of finishes to individual theaters around the world – making sure that’s maintained. As we’ve done some of these now, we’ve gotten better and better at that communication and what we hope audiences hear in the theater.
Wrench in collaboration with Andrea Bocelli and guests like Ed Sheeran
“Everyone was so kind”
There are a lot of guests in this, and many of them have done concert videos before. Ed Sheeran has one at Wembley Stadium, for example. Do any of these people have an opinion on how they would like to be filmed?
Sam Wrench: Everyone was so kind. Everyone literally could not have taken more time and been more understanding. “How can we help you?” it was really the vibe. I think everyone saw that this was an opportunity to celebrate Andrea, and so they wanted it to sound good. Of course, they want it to be beautiful, but they are there to celebrate it, and if he and Veronica and everyone are happy, then they are more than happy. Ed was on vacation, I think, and took two days off and came over for lunch and stuff and was very kind with his time. In that regard, everyone was very supportive and excited about making a film.
And with Andrea himself, how involved was he in talking about what he wanted this to be and what he wanted people to take away from it? How was your collaboration?
Sam Wrench: It’s obviously interesting because he is who he is and so his visual conversation is very different. It’s much more about feeling. He wanted to celebrate Tuscany, he wanted to celebrate Lajatico and he wanted to get a real sense of where the concert would take place. [With] at lunch he was on the same page as me. He wanted it to be very relaxed and he didn’t want it to feel like a film shoot where people were forced to do things and stuff. And it was the same for us. We wanted it to be as natural as possible when we watched these incredible moments and these little conversations. From that point of view, he was very receptive – and so was Veronica. They were very understanding and supportive. To be honest, I think they had maybe three marks in terms of visual material in the film, which is incredible. Little snippets like “This person would love this moment” and stuff. They supported me a lot.
“Everything Was Recorded”: Wrench shares her hopes for more Eras tour content to be released
But ultimately, “that’s for Taylor to decide.”
I believe there’s at least one song that didn’t make it The Tour of the Ages that was recorded – “no body, no crime”. Can you confirm that it exists in video format and will anyone ever see it?
Sam Wrench: Everything was recorded. Someone someday… I don’t know. I think it’s up to Taylor to decide. There were so many incredible moments and we couldn’t keep everyone in the cinema for three and a half hours, and there are a few more that were, obviously, included in the launch of Disney Plus. I hope so. I hope everyone can see everything.
Wrench celebrates an absurd Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter
“It’s very Christmassy. It’s super fun.”
And I saw what you’re doing An Absurd Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter. Is there anything you can say about what we can expect?
Sam Wrench: That’s a tricky one because I don’t know what the rules are about what [I can say]Other than that it’s amazing. It’s very Christmassy. It’s really fun. It’s a little absurd. It’ll be great.
About Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration
The film marks Bocelli’s 30th birthday with a three-day concert attended by more than 30,000 guests from around the world. The homecoming not only honors Bocelli’s illustrious career, but also has deep meaning for him – the Teatro del Silenzio is the place where Bocelli’s love of music began and where he performs annual concerts in honor of his Italian roots. The unique concert features Bocelli’s wide-ranging repertoire, alongside captivating duets with an unprecedented cast of global superstars, including Ed Sheeran, Shania Twain, Jon Batiste, Brian May, Sofia Vergara, David Foster & Katharine McPhee, Matteo Bocelli, Sofia Carson, Lauren Daigle and more, plus cameos from Kim and Khloe Kardashian.
Andrea Bocelli 30: The celebration hits theaters on November 8th.