Director Taylor Hackford has given several revealing interviews about his time making the documentary CHUCK BERRY: HAIL, HAIL ROCK ’N’ ROLL. Berry was notoriously private and even as documentary subject, he was less than cooperative. Hackford notes, “We knew Chuck Berry’s reputation. We didn’t have any idea if time had softened him but we found out that even at 60, he was the still the original rock and roll bad boy. He was impossible! […] We were all there to celebrate him, we were all there because he changed our lives . . . but it was intrusive in his life. We all descended on his place and he did everything possible to sabotage what we were trying to do. But Chuck was complicated — in fact, he was the most difficult ‘movie star’ I’ve even [sic] worked with. It was like trying to ride a Brahma Bull — you can try to ride him, but he’s going to buck you off.”
Despite Berry’s attitude, Hackford remained in awe of the superstar, “But still, I loved Chuck, because he was the ‘real deal,’ an original genius who created a true American Art Form — why shouldn’t he be difficult?”
