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''When You're Strange'' is a 2009 music
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
about the American rock band
the Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
. It was written and directed by Tom DiCillo and narrated by
Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...
. The film covers the band's formation in 1965, its development over the next two years, the release of its debut album and subsequent albums, and vocalist Jim Morrison's extensive use of alcohol and drugs, which led to his death in Paris in July 1971. The film features archival footage of rehearsals, TV broadcasts and concert performances, private cine-film and the background to Morrison's arrest at a 1969 Miami concert and later trial. It also includes the first public release of material from Morrison's 1969
featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...
'' HWY: An American Pastoral''. The Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek, who was not pleased with the 1991 biopic ''
The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
'', stated prior to the film's release that "This will be the true story of the Doors ... the anti-
Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...
."


Production

When the film entered production, the surviving members of the band decided not to be too involved in the project to try to obtain the right neutral balance that an outsider would try to achieve.


Release

The documentary was first screened at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...
on January 17, 2009. It received somewhat favorable reviews from that showing, but the narration (by director DiCillo) was singled out by most viewers as very seriously flawed for its monotonous delivery. Due to the rash of complaints about the narration,
Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...
was hired to redub it. A few months later, DiCillo pronounced the film "just about locked" and announced that there would be a showing of the new "redux" version. It debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival on Sunday, June 21, 2009. The completed film was also screened at the
London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...
on October 16–18, 2009. The film was released in theaters on April 9, 2010, with a soundtrack release on April 6, 2010. It was released in Canada on April 15, 2010. PBS broadcast this film as part of its series '' American Masters'' on May 12, 2010. The film was released on DVD on June 29, 2010.


Soundtrack

A film soundtrack entitled '' When You're Strange: Music from the Motion Picture'' featuring 14 Doors' songs and Morrison's poetry read by Johnny Depp was released to coincide with the film's release.


Reception

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, ''When You're Strange'' holds a 60% approval rating with an average rating of 5.7/10 based on 70 critic reviews. The consensus notes: "It's far from a critical assessment of the band's music or its legacy, but ''When You're Strange'' gives fans a beautifully filmed, lovingly assembled tribute to the Doors."
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
assigned the film a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 18 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In France, distributed by MK2, the film was released under its original title and received an excellent reception. Doors guitarist Robby Krieger felt "really happy" about how the film turned out, crediting in particular the editing work. Krieger believed that the film put together a more accurate portrayal of Morrison than ''
The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
'' did: "I think when you see the
Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...
movie – I'm amazed how good
Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a Leading actor, leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including Comedy film, comedies, dramas, action fi ...
did – but, you know, the problem with that movie is that the script was kind of stupid. It doesn't really capture how Jim was at all. This gives you a much better insight into how his mind worked, I think." Drummer John Densmore also reported that he liked the film very much.


Accolades

The film was nominated for an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
for Outstanding Nonfiction Series following its airing on '' American Masters'' on PBS. In December 2010, the film was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Video and subsequently won the award in February 2011.


References


External links

* * {{Grammy Award for Best Music Film 2009 films The Doors Rockumentaries 2009 documentary films American documentary films Grammy Award for Best Music Film winners Films directed by Tom DiCillo 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films