Blair Foster is a filmmaker who has been lauded for her contributions to movies and television via two Emmy awards, a Peabody Award, and a Grammy nomination. Blair is now teaming up with Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney to create a six-part mini-series titled “Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge.” Blair has a flair for documentaries and “Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge” fits in nicely with this niche as it focuses on the now-iconic magazine which has delved into American pop-culture, music, and politics throughout the last fifty years.
“Rolling Stone Magazine” is noteworthy as being a publication that realized that rock ‘n roll reshaped America.
Aside from a mere music style, it symbolized new mindsets and attitudes towards social norms. “Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge” offers exclusive interviews with the publication’s writers and contains rare footage and photographs that offer viewers a rare insiders glimpse into the inner workings of the magazine. Narrated by Jeff Daniels, the film even featured rare and/or exclusive interviews with music legends such as Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, David Bowie and even actor Johnny Depp, which once played the voice of Hunter S. Thompson.
Recently, Blair discussed her experiences working on this special Movie that spotlights “Rolling Stone’s” undeniable impact on society in an exclusive interview.
Movies, documentaries, and success
Meagan Meehan (MM): How did you initially get interested in making films and why do you focus on documentaries?
Blair Foster (BF): I’ve always loved history, and I went to grad school thinking I wanted to be a history professor. But I wasn’t really suited for academia. Fortunately, my professor was an advisor on a British documentary series, and the filmmaker came to speak to our class.
I ended up doing an internship on his documentary and fell in love with it.
MM: How did you break into the business and how did you achieve such success?
BF: After interning on the documentary I left my history program and pursued a Masters degree in documentary film at Stanford. After graduating from Stanford, I got in touch with the British filmmaker I had interned for, and he eventually hired me to work on a documentary, “The Perilous Fight: America’s World War II in Color.” I worked on that film for almost a year and then moved to England to work on another series.
Eventually, I moved to New York, and after a long job search I got a job as a researcher on “Now with Bill Moyers.” I worked for years as a researcher and Associate Producer on a number of TV documentaries and got my big break working with Alex Gibney on “Taxi to the Dark Side.”
MM: What was it like to win Emmy’s, be nominated for a Grammy, and attend all these spectacular events?
BF: Very surreal—beyond anything I ever imagined! It’s a privilege to make a living doing something I love so to win an award for it is truly wonderful.
MM: How did you get involved with the "Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge" and what is it like to work with Alex Gibney?
BF: I’ve worked with Alex for almost ten years on a variety of projects—music documentaries, political docs, etc.
so when Rolling Stone came along it just seemed like a natural, logical project for us to collaborate on. Alex is enormously talented, and I’ve been so fortunate to learn from him. I always say he gave me the greatest gift which is that he’s allowed me to fail. I’ve made so many mistakes on the path to becoming a filmmaker, but he’s treated them as opportunities for me to learn and grow.
MM: Did you grow up reading Rolling Stone and, if so, was it surreal to meet the staff behind it?
BF: I did. I was a teenager in the 1980’s, and that’s when I started reading it. I would never have dreamed that one day I would meet Jann Wenner and many of the writers I read growing up. Meeting Kurt Loder was a true highlight!
MM: What was it like to shoot the movie and do you have any interesting stories from that behind the scenes?
BF: An amazing team of people worked on this film for 18 months, and we had a blast. On no other project could you read about Hunter Thompson, Tina Turner, Patty Hearst, the Sex Pistols and Jimmy Swaggart! Meeting Cameron Crowe, Ice-T, and Bruce Springsteen was the absolute highlight. All of them could not have been nicer. Cameron Crowe generously let us interview us in his home and shared amazing stories about all the musicians he’s interviewed. Ice-T’s interview was incredible, and I was in pain from trying not to laugh—I think his intelligence and humor really shines through in the interview.
And Bruce Springsteen is as nice, charming and smart as you think he is. Was surreal and overwhelming to meet a music icon.
MM: What parts of the "Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge" documentary do you personally find most interesting and/or enjoyable?
BF: The best part of working on this series was meeting and interviewing the writers. I love music so getting to talk to Ben Fong-Torres, Kurt Loder and others about music was awesome. And I also love history and politics so chatting with Janet Reitman, Matt Taibbi and others about those subjects were fascinating to me. I wish I could pick a favorite story, but I really do love them all.
Other projects and future films
MM: Can you tell us about the other projects you have worked on and how you select your topics?
BF: I’ve been very fortunate to work on a wide range of documentaries. I’ve done a number of music documentaries—"George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” “The History of the Eagles,” “Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown” and “Sinatra: All or Nothing at All”—as well as docs on historical and political issues like “Get Me Roger Stone,” “Park Avenue: Money,” “Power and the American Dream” and “A Conversation With My Black Son.”
Often the topic will select me. Alex will ask me if I’m interested in working on something and I’m very fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time. I mean, who wouldn’t want to work on a documentary about James Brown?! Other films, such as “A Conversation with My Black Son” are about topics I care about, and I’m fortunate to have an amazing group of collaborators to work with to create these films.
MM: What subjects would you like to tackle via film projects in the near future?
BF: So many! I really love comedy and would love to work on something centered around a comedian. I am working on a doc series but unfortunately can’t talk about it as it hasn’t been announced. Keep an eye out for it this November!
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“Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge” is currently available on iTunes and all major VOD platforms throughout North America and the United Kingdom.
