When Jimmy Page was looking for a bassist, he didn’t need to look much since a session musician, John Paul Jones, was more than eager to join the lineup of what would be Led Zeppelin. Jones was fed up with staying as studio noise, as he wanted to be part of a group and perform his original tracks on stage.
Still, even after joining Led Zeppelin and, unknowingly, finding himself in one of the most iconic lineups of music history, he didn’t have much hope regarding the act’s future in his early days with his bandmates. John thought the band wouldn’t be as much of a major success and only last for a few years before disbanding.
So, he had an alternative career plan ready to go just in case his prediction came true: it was to be a movie musician and make original tracks for films. The bassist was into the movie industry quite a lot, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that one of his future career plans consisted of producing soundtracks.
Well, luckily, Led Zeppelin didn’t fail, and John didn’t need to look for an alternative career in another industry, but it seemed that he wasn’t the only rocker who was into featuring in films, one way or the other. It was yet another bassist, Rush‘s Geddy Lee, who wished to take his chances with the vast screens of theatre saloons.
While chatting with Entertainment Weekly in 2009, Lee seemed more than eager to participate in another film, as he had only recently featured in the film, ‘I Love You, Man?’. It was apparent that Geddy loved to act in front of cameras, directors, and a crowded set, so when the host asked him whether he had different plans for his acting career, the rocker already had a few things in mind.
He discussed how he was ready to take on anything while also disclosing his wish to score himself a role in the then-upcoming adaptation of ‘The Yiddish Policemen’s Union,’ by the Coen Brothers. It seemed that he truly wanted to take part in the film, as he was convinced that he looked quite the part for any decent role, smoothly joking about his Jewish ancestry.
Geddy on what was next for his acting career and which movie he wanted to take part in:
“Any movie. We’re [Rush] all available. We’re putting ourselves out there. We all want to be character actors now. We’re ready to be in any movie anybody wants to put us into. I’d love to be in a Coen brothers film.
I would love to have a bit part in ‘The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.’ I love the book, and I am perfect for that movie. I think they should put me in one of the scenes somewhere. I look the part; trust me.”
However, to Lee’s demise, things didn’t work out the way he would wish as the Coen Brothers never got to do the movie, reportedly dismissing the entire project after writing a few drafts for the script. So, it wasn’t only the adaptation that went down into the depths of unfinished projects of the director brothers, but it was also the Rush icon’s dreams that were demolished.
Still, the fact that the two prominent names of rock, Jones and Lee, showed interest in the movie industry proves the undeniable bond between films and music and how the two industries are intertwined through so many links.
