Metallica Unreels Its Novel Video Idea

Expect the unexpected from Metallica.

After years of refusing to make an MTV video, the speed-metal kings have completed their first clip, “One,” a video of a song from the group’s platinum album “. . . And Justice For All.” But instead of simply highlighting the band, the new video stars . . . Jason Robards!

The seven-minute-plus clip does feature performance film of the band shot late last year at a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles. But a big chunk of the video displays dramatic footage from “Johnny Got His Gun,” a 1971 film version of Dalton Trumbo’s acclaimed anti-war novel about a World War I quadriplegic with Timothy Bottoms, Donald Sutherland and Robards.

“When the band was writing material for its album, they were working on a song about a guy who’d lost his arms and legs in a war,” said Metallica manager Cliff Burnstein. “So I told them that sounded a lot like ‘Johnny Got His Gun,’ which we’d all read in the ‘60s. James Hetfield (the group’s singer and lyricist) got the book and they all loved it and I suspect it may have inspired some lyrics as well.”

In the past, the band’s hard-core metal cult image had precluded any real possibility of video play. Burnstein says a since-departed MTV exec told him three years ago: “The only way this band will ever make it on MTV is on our news show.”

With its current album past 1.5 million in sales and the band nominated for a Grammy in the new heavy-metal category, Metallica’s video credentials have improved considerably. In fact, Burnstein said MTV encouraged the group to make a video this time around. Eager to emphasize the song’s anti-war message, the band screened the film version of “Johnny Got His Gun.”

“They were so blown away by it that rather than just use a few snips, they wanted to make it the centerpiece of the video,” Burnstein said. “So we all picked out our favorite lines and scenes. We went to several famous video directors to shoot the performance scenes and edit in the movie footage. They all turned us down, so we found someone not-so-famous to do it.”

Instead, Bill Pope, a director of photography, shot the footage, which was edited into two different versions--a seven-minute-plus clip and a five-minute segment. While there was initial concern that MTV might find the material too unsettling (though not as unsettling as Marty Callner’s heavily-rotated Sam Kinison video), the video channel has embraced the clip.

“We’re going to play the whole thing--I think it’s great,” said MTV chief Lee Masters, who said the clip will premiere on MTV’s “Headbanger’s Ball” program this weekend. “It’s very well done with a strong, striking message. I kept hearing how disturbing it was, but I don’t see that at all. I expected to see scenes of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. But it simply has clips from a respected old film.”

Masters said the channel will run the clip with a “pre-produced” introduction, “putting it in context” and alerting viewers to its strong message. Though MTV won’t air the clip immediately in heavy rotation: “If people respond, we’ll step up our rotation,” Masters said. “Let’s put it this way: If you’re a Metallica fan, you won’t have any problem finding it on MTV.”