Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson & 'Anvil' Director Sacha Gervasi Team Up To Script A Wild "Siege of Sarajevo" Concert Story

British filmmaker Sacha Gervasi knows his hard rock and metal and where to find the drama within those stories, so perhaps, it’s little surprise he’s teaming up with Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson to co-write a screenplay telling the remarkable story of the concert Dickinson played at the height of The Siege of Sarajevo in 1994. Risking their lives, Dickinson and his band Skunkworks—Dickson quit Iron Maiden in 93 for several years to pursue solo projects— were smuggled into the besieged city by the U.N. to play a concert for its beleaguered citizens amidst the chaos of war.  The journey, and the violent chaos that ensued while the concert was happening, was captured in a 2016 documentary “Scream for Me Sarajevo” directed by Tarik Hodzic (context in the trailer below, which you really need to see).

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The longest siege in modern history lasting 1,425 days and resulting in over 11,000 killed, including 1,600 children, the band was essentially entering a perilous war zone in order to pull off the concert and even believed they were in danger of being shelled by mortars doing the show. That panic, tension, and insanity are what the duo hope to capture in the screenplay.

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Gervasi is very familiar with the world of this music. He directed the outstanding 2008 metal documentary, “Anvil! The Story Of Anvil,” which told the comedic but humanist and hopeful story and struggle of the underdog Canadian rock band Anvil! Seen as a frontman and hard rocker on the outside, Dickson is no stranger to writing either. He has authored several novels and co-authored the movie “Chemical Wedding” with director Julian Doyle.

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“The few incredible days I spent in Sarajevo with my solo band pre-Christmas in 1994 were some of the most intense of my life,” Dickinson said in a statement.  “Crafting a story to bring the emotions, madness, tragedy, and triumph to the screen is no easy task.  My own journey was as a long-haired heavy metal singer driving through firefights into a city that had been under siege longer than Stalingrad. Mine was not, of course, the only journey taken on that day, and afterward, at home in London, I left behind in Sarajevo traveling companions on the road of life. This movie is actually dedicated to their story, not mine.”

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In 2019, the Sarajevo City Council granted Dickinson the title of “Honorary citizen of Sarajevo” in remembrance of his visit and the band’s performance at the peak of the Bosnian war.

”I first met Bruce Dickinson as a 15-year-old Maiden fan in London in 1982.  Now, nearly 40 years later, to be co-writing this extraordinarily intense and personal story with Bruce himself is a genuine and unexpected honor,” Gervasi said.

Gervasi directed “Hitchcock” in 2012 with Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, and HBO’s “My Dinner with Hervé” in 2018 starring Peter Dinklage, which nominated for the PGA, WGA, as well as a primetime Emmy for Outstanding Television Film.

Dickinson and Gervasi sat down with award-winning podcaster Alex Ferrari for an exclusive discussion about their collaboration and inspirations on Ferrari’s new podcast, Next Level Soul, which will air on Saturday, Ferrari’s podcast. You can watch a preview below.