THE INSPIRATION FOR ONCE & FOR ALL

I’ve always been a massive Foo Fighters fan—the kind who air-drums at stoplights without shame. When the band dropped Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in 2007, the universe threw a Monkey Wrench into my life by having my girlfriend of four years dump me. Gnarly. 

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Being a filmmaker and a drummer of 20+ years, I did what any emotionally wrecked artist would do: I crawled into that Foo Fighters album like a Beaconsfield Miner. I blasted it everywhere—home, car, shower, probably in my sleep. And slowly, the songs began to morph into scenes from my Exhausted relationship.

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Call it crossed Headwires (or a Wattershed moment), I wrote those scenes into a screenplay: no plan, no budget, just pure catharsis. Inspired by concept albums/films like The Wall and Tommy, I set one rule: my story had to follow the track list in order. And then I had a thought—one of those thoughts you only get at 2 a.m. when you’re stuck between sadness and Overdrive: “HDV cameras are cheap… I've saved a little nest-egg… I could totally make this film! Stranger Things Have Happened.”

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To be clear, I knew this idea might be DOA. Could using Foo FIghters' music to tell my deeply personal, melodramatic, Long Road to Ruin lead to disaster? Absolutely. Still, it felt authentic and aligned with the lowering costs of indie film and the rise of Film Festival circuits. So I figured, better to Learn to Fly, than Let it Die. 

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I gathered an incredible cast, crew, and locations—many of whom worked for little or nothing, except to bring this Miracle to life. Because I was self-producing, I wasn’t just the writer/director/producer. Some days I was also the grip, gaffer, camera operator, PA, editor… and yes, even an actor—anything to Have It All. 

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Production was 25 days plus eight months in post. In the end, making this film got me On The Mend from grief, past mistakes, and let me Breakout a new artistic voice. More importantly, it built a community of filmmakers I still collaborate with today.

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All My Life, I could've never dreamed how screening Once & For All sparked conversations about mental health, heartbreak, masculinity, addiction, and how rock ’n’ roll can actually save your soul. 

 

Cory Reeder

writer/ director/ producer

Once & For All