How the filmmakers of Becoming Led Zeppelin had to pass a seven-hour “exam” set by Jimmy Page to earn his cooperation.
From the very start, director Bernard MacMahon and co-writer/producer Allison McGourty knew that making a documentary with full participation from Led Zeppelin would be an uphill battle. The band had long avoided giving deep interviews or consenting to retrospectives. So when they finally secured an initial meeting with Page, the stakes were high. What they didn’t expect: the meeting itself would feel like an audition.
MacMahon has recalled that the first encounter with Page took place in a London hotel in late 2017 — and stretched to seven hours, with a break for afternoon tea. Page arrived carrying inconspicuous supermarket bags. At first glance, MacMahon assumed they contained snacks; instead, they held Page’s personal diaries dating back to the 1960s.
As they walked Page through their storyboard — a visual plan of the film’s structure — Page intermittently tested their knowledge. When the directors reached the moment in the story when Page first met the band’s singer, Robert Plant, Page asked: “What was the name of Robert’s group when I first met him?” Without hesitation, MacMahon answered “Hobbstweedle,” correctly. Page apparently nodded and said simply, “Very good, carry on.”
This wasn’t a trivial detail — it was part of Page’s way of determining whether the filmmakers truly understood the band’s history and respected their legacy. Indeed, MacMahon and McGourty later revealed that Page told them they were “in,” on the condition they went on to get the rest of the band — bassist John Paul Jones, and Plant — on board too.
Part of the test involved a request to visit a meaningful site in Page’s history: the riverside cottage in Pangbourne, where the band had rehearsed in their early days. Page later revealed that this request was itself a test — if the filmmakers had declined, the project wouldn’t have moved forward.
Their success in that first meeting, and their willingness to accept Page’s conditions, paved the way for access to rare archival materials — personal diaries, long-lost tapes, and intimate recollections. In short: their rigorous preparation, respect to detail, and sincere passion for the band’s early history earned them the trust of a famously private rock legend.
In the end, what some might call an “exam” was really a test of dedication — and it yielded remarkable rewards. Because MacMahon and McGourty passed, we now have a documentary that is not only the first officially sanctioned portrait of Led Zeppelin — but one grounded in authenticity, respect, and deep historical understanding.
