{"id":671811,"date":"2026-09-04T06:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/671811\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T06:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:56:13","slug":"oasis-doc-directors-on-filming-gallaghers-first-reunion-in-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/671811\/","title":{"rendered":"Oasis Doc Directors on Filming Gallaghers’ First Reunion in 15 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLiam and Noel Gallagher<\/a>, to perhaps nobody\u2019s surprise, aren\u2019t ones for getting teary-eyed, even when reconciling after well over a decade apart. <\/p>\n

\n\tSo say Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, directors of the upcoming Disney+ documentary \u201cOasis<\/a>: Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger,\u201d speaking to Variety ahead of the film\u2019s world premiere in Venice.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn early 2025, the pair, who were behind music docs \u201cShut Up and Play the Hits\u201d and \u201cMeet Me in the Bathroom,\u201d were given the unique opportunity of capturing the years-in-the-making reunion between arguably the most famous \u2014\u00a0and famously feuding \u2014\u00a0brothers in rock and roll as they began rehearsals for what would become Oasis\u2019 record-breaking and wildly-anticipated world tour.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was amazing to watch,\u201d admits Lovelace. \u201cIt was so interesting hearing the music come together, having not heard them play as a band for 15\/16 years, but also seeing them reconnecting. It was a privileged view.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUnfortunately, privileged or not, that view wasn\u2019t actually from within the studio, with the filmmakers having decided that, for the seismic and long-awaited reuniting of the Gallaghers, it was best if they simply weren\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotos are courtesy of Oasis: Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe didn\u2019t want it to feel mediated. We didn\u2019t want it to feel like there\u2019s an annoying camera crew running around getting in their way,\u201d says Southern. \u201cAnd we were aware of how sensitive it was, and that this was literally the first time they\u2019d been in a room together for a prolonged period for 15 years.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAnd so, having set up their camera rigs long in advance, the pair escaped to their monitors (sadly in a nearby cabin without air conditioning and during a heatwave), to watch it all unfold. But there weren\u2019t fireworks, as many had predicted. Nor were there any watery-eyed hugs between long-lost siblings.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the Gallaghers, it\u2019s not \u2018Dawson\u2019s Creek.\u2019 They\u2019re not gonna sit down and talk about their emotions,\u201d says Southern, who adds that the biggest surprise was \u201cjust how seriously\u201d the brothers were taking it all as they immediately began polishing renditions of \u201cWonderwall,\u201d \u201cChampagne Supernova,\u201d \u201cLive Forever\u201d and other iconic Oasis songs.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was very workmanlike. There was no kind of messing around. As soon as Liam arrived, it\u2019s like, \u2018Right, are we doing this?\u2019 And they were just going through the whole set. But it\u2019s sort of fascinating to watch that process and then the subtleties of their interactions, because there was no huge kind of coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut this fuss-free, workmanlike approach was all part and parcel of, as Lovelace describes it, \u201cthe serious business of putting on the biggest rock and roll comeback the world\u2019s ever seen.\u201d And, once the rehearsals wrapped and the Oasis tour began \u2014\u00a0starting in the U.K. before heading to Ireland, Canada, the U.S., Korea, Japan, Australia and South America \u2014 their no-nonsense fine-tuning of their act after so long apart paid off.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you see that day after day after day, you realize that\u2019s why those shows were as good as they were. They put the work in,\u201d says Lovelace.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe concerts \u2014\u00a0especially that very first comeback gig in Cardiff \u2014 also helped throw water on whatever friction there might have still been between the Gallaghers (many joked that they\u2019d have broken up again long before the tour was supposed to finish).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere was definite tension,\u201d says Lovelace. \u201cAnd, from our perspective as observers, that didn\u2019t dissipate until that first moment when the expectant energy of the crowds met the nervousness of the band. That was a real moment of alchemy. It was like something incredibly special happens when these people who\u2019ve been waiting 16 years for this momentous thing to happen got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd the brothers did want it to happen, the directors claim. While the vast sums of money earned from the tour had led many to believe it was simply an exercise in fortune-making, they assert that it became much more important to them.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoshua Halling<\/p>\n

\n\tLovelace notes that, in the years leading up to the reunion when there was endless speculation whether or not it could ever happen, it seemed like Noel was the more reluctant while it was Liam who had expressed enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBut I think when they came into it, they felt the weight of responsibility to the fans, and it very quickly became apparent that this was going to be a feel good story,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s tension. There\u2019s a little kind of: Could this go wrong? But we felt like they were hyper-focused and it wasn\u2019t just a case of let\u2019s turn up and play the gigs and take the money. It was like, \u2018This has to be the best Oasis that we can give to the fans,\u2019 and there really was that sense that it meant a lot to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThere also was a sense that the fans, however much they might have paid for the tickets or however far they had traveled, got much more than just a concert. After coming out of the sweaty cabin for the rehearsals, Southern said he\u2019d operated a camera at every single show to \u201cbe in and amongst it\u201d with the many thousands singing along and see first-hand their reactions.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd there was this overwhelming feeling that the crowd needed this release as much as they wanted it,\u201d he says. \u201cI think you could be the most cynical person in the world and it would get to you, because just being surrounded by that many people \u2014 grown men crying \u2014 it just made you feel, especially in the times we\u2019re living in, that it was bigger than the band. It seemed like the people really needed a moment like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSouthern wasn\u2019t the only one videoing the fans, with a starry array of cinematographers tapped in each country to capture the tour as it moved around the globe. \u201cWherever we went in the world, it was like the easiest phone call to make: \u2018Do you want to come and shoot Oasis next week?,\u201d says Lovelace. Among the many who said yes were Kenneth Branagh\u2019s regular collaborator Haris Zambarloukos, Lol Crawley, who the Oscar for his work on \u201cThe Brutalist,\u201d and James Laxton, who was Oscar nominated for \u201cMoonlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe didn\u2019t want it to be like a standard show taping,\u201d says Southern. \u201cSo with every cinematographer, we gave them the the same direction: just shoot your experience of this show. So if there\u2019s something in the crowd that\u2019s more interesting than what\u2019s happening on the stage, go with that. Likewise, with the cameras on stage, it wasn\u2019t about getting a great shot of a guitar fretboard, it was: What\u2019s the story, what\u2019s happening between Liam and Noel, what\u2019s the narrative version of this? And I think the result is some really, really immersive concert footage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith \u201cOasis: Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger\u201d launching in Imax screens, the directors hope to fully immerse people back in that glorious, bucket hat-wearing \u201cChampagne Supernova\u201d summer of 2025. \u201cWe wanted it to be as close to the experience of being there as it possibly could be,\u201d says Lovelace.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of the famed 90s Mancunian headgear that became undoubtedly the merch-du-jour of the Oasis tour, Southern has an idea that could top even the wildly popular Trojan Horse popcorn bucket that came out in time for \u201cThe Odyssey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think the cinemas are really missing an opportunity if they don\u2019t have popcorn bucket hats\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liam and Noel Gallagher, to perhaps nobody\u2019s surprise, aren\u2019t ones for getting teary-eyed, even when reconciling after well…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[18,117,19,17,1006,327,1005,1004],"class_list":["post-671811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-liam-gallagher","tag-movies","tag-noel-gallagher","tag-oasis"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117211470382331455","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}