MICHAEL SALOMON
Drafted in to co-direct Metallica’s first music video, he had a hell of a task pleasing Lars and James
WORDS: PAUL BRANNINGAN
How did you land the gig for the One video?
“I was better known at the time as an editor, not a director, and I’d worked a lot for Elektra. They wanted [co-director] Bill Pope to shoot the band’s performance, but I’m not sure Bill was so confident about combining that footage with the film [Johnny Got His Gun] in a cohesive way. Bill’s wife Sharon [Oreck] had her own production company, and I’d worked on a Madonna video [La Isla Bonita] for her, so I think she suggested me.”