I had no Concept. The footage from The Doors’ archive was amazing, but most of it was without sound. I sat for hours watching Jim, Ray, Robby and John in total silence. The only thing I knew was that the images were so intense, I didn’t want any contemporary talking heads interrupting them.

But I had no idea how to put it all together. Then, one night, an image fluttered into my brain. It was a shot I’d seen that morning of Jim driving through the desert. It also had no sound. In silence, he reaches out and turns on the car radio. I only found out later this was an outtake from Jim’s own film, HWY.

But, a thought struck me; what if I put some sound on it? What if he hears the radio announcement of his own death? These images of Jim wandering through the desert, as if he were his own ghost seeking some meaning, could be the unifying thread that pulls the whole film together.

And that’s how the Concept was born. At the last moment, someone came forward with the original negative of HWY, and I was able to cut the shots of Jim into the film just the way he’d shot them, beautifully clear and surreal.

That’s why this 4K release of When You’re Strange is so exciting to me. Now people all over the world can view the film as I’d intended; on a big screen, with great sound and nothing in it but original footage of The Doors.

Celebrate 60 years of The Doors. Tickets are now on sale for screenings in cinemas on December 4 and 6. https://bit.ly/3Lias6i