Spike Jonze has dropped the first trailer from his forthcoming documentary, “Beastie Boys Story,” on the trailblazing New York trio of rappers due later this year.
Dubbed “the story of three friends who inspired each other and the world,” the doc centers around cofounders Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz looking back on their 40 years of friendship with each other and with cofounder Adam “MCA” Yauch, who passed away from cancer in 2012. The film follows the sprawling 500-plus-page book of the same name, which is so long it practically unspools the group’s story in real time.
A segment of the doc was previewed at Universal Music Group’s pre-Grammy showcase, which focused on the creation of one of their biggest hits — “Sabatoge” — and how it all started with a distorted bass riff from the late Adam “MCA” Yauch.
The film will premiere in IMAX on April 2nd and on Apple TV+ on April 24, shortly after the 26th anniversary of the release of the group’s landmark 1994 album “Ill Communication”; Jonze directed several popular and widely imitated videos for songs from that album, including “Sure Shot,” “Root Down” and “Sabatoge.”
Jonze also recently teamed with Beastie Boys for a new photo book, “Beastie Boys,” which is out March 17 on Rizzoli, which combines more than 200 of Jonze’s personal photographs of the group with new text from Diamond, Horovitz and him.
“There are some friends you have lunch with so many times over the years, you know their order,” Horovitz and Diamond said in a statement earlier this year. “Spike is one of those friends. And even when you don’t recognize anything on the menu, he comes up with something good for the whole table. Like when we wondered what to do when our book comes out… then Spike placed his order: You will put on a show for the children.”