He may be a hard-core bassist, but Robert Trujillo has managed to steal the show at his first-ever appearance at Comic-Con.
The 48-year-old Mexican musician and his Metallica bandmates made their highly anticipated debut at the convention to preview their new film “Metallica Through the Never: An IMAX 3D Experience,” which is being called a twist on the traditional concert film.
“This is f—ing awesome,” said Metallica’s drummer, Lars Ulrich, as the band was greeted with a thunderous standing ovation from a near capacity crowd at Hall H.
Ulrich was joined onstage by Trujillo, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and the film’s star Dane DeHaan, writer-director Nimrod Antal and producer Charlotte Huggins.
The panel began with an adrenaline-rush as the band premiered the new theatrical poster and trailer for the film, which featured more Metallica and more post-apocalyptic violence than the teaser released in May.
The film features a monstrous stage that takes up nearly the whole floor of Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, where the band performs in the film.
“The stage was the first part of all of it,” said Hetfield. Adding that the band treated the concerts as a film shoot, sometimes starting and stopping for multiple takes, sometime performing full sets during their five shows at Rogers Arena.
“The stage is the star of the film,” added Ulrich. “Making a movie about a stage, and then bringing it to the people is a cool idea.”
The audience was also treated to a never-before-seen scene from the film that featured more post-apocalyptic mayhem. The band’s blistering song “Cyanide” serves as the scene’s backdrop.
The IMAX 3D film comes out on September 27th and will be in wide release on October 4th.