Tenacious D Halfway Toward ‘Destiny’
The script for the long-awaited Tenacious D feature film, “Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny,” is about halfway complete, co-writer/director Liam Lynch tells Billboard.com. Shooting will hopefully begin by the end of the year for the film, which Lynch says “follows the stages the D had to go through, as well as one of their first character-building quests, to help prepare them to be the greatest band in the world.”
Lynch says initial script ideas pitched from writers outside the D camp were “funny,” but failed to capture the comedy rock duo’s hard-luck essence. “Part of what is funny about the D is them being the underdogs and thinking they’re awesome, but you’re in the reality of what they actually are,” he says.
Lynch, who directed the video for Tenacious D’s “Tribute,” eventually asked group member Jack Black if he could take a crack at a script. “I just said to Jack, ‘nobody can tell you how to be the D. You guys are the D. Let’s write it ourselves,'” he says. “We wrote six movie treatments and refined it into exactly the movie that everybody wanted to see and make.”
“For the last four weeks, every night — we don’t even take one night out — Jack comes over and we write all the dialog and jokes,” Lynch continues. “We know what has to happen in every scene now, so it’s just a matter of getting the wording right. It does have some wonderful fantasy sequences and some mystical sequences.”
Music will naturally be a major part of the film, the soundtrack for which may double as the follow-up to Tenacious D’s 2001 self-titled Epic debut. “As we’re writing, we’re recording all these little crumbs of song ideas,” Lynch says. “There are obviously several musical scenes and some that are almost like a musical or a video. There are other scenes of them in their apartment working on a tune.”
Luckily, fans won’t have to wait too long for a glimpse of the D. Lynch just finished work on a double-DVD set, tentatively titled “Tenacious D – The Masterworks” and expected in September. The release compiles the duo’s short-lived HBO series, music videos, some short films, a 90-minute concert from London’s Brixton Academy, and a tour documentary.
“This is the package all D fans will want,” Lynch says proudly. “I’m even sick of having things on so many different videotapes all over my house. Now everything will all be in one spot. We want it as much as the fans do.”
Finally, Tenacious D will play a brief set May 28 at the Hollywood Palace as part of a benefit for NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).
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