Summary

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with U2 singer Bono at the Cannes Film Festival for his AppleTV+ documentary Bono: Stories of Surrender.

The new documentary revisits Bono’s stage show with behind-the-scenes footage and personal stories.

In this interview, Bono discusses how Sean Penn helped with his festival premiere, shares inspiration from Nelson Mandela, and reveals his all-time favorite film.

At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, U2 frontman Bono celebrated the world premiere of his new AppleTV+ documentary, Bono: Stories of Surrender. Based on his memoir, the stylish feature revisits and reconceptualizes his 2022 one-man stage show, Stories of Surrender: An Evening of Words, Music and Some Mischief…
Through unseen behind-the-scenes footage from shows at New York’s Beacon Theater and personal accounts, Bono: Stories of Surrender shares with fans of the legendary rock star and activist stories of his life’s journey. The film is directed by Killing Them Softly’s Andrew Dominik, and features performances from some of Bono’s hit songs, as well as remarkably personal details from an astounding individual.
In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Bono talks cinema, from his own “superhero movie” to his all-time favorite films. He discusses how Academy Award winner Sean Penn influenced his big world premiere, shares profound words of wisdom from Nelson Mandela, and talks about his new approach to the music in the film. You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the transcript below.
Sean Penn Suggested the Perfect Theater for ‘Bono: Stories of Surrender’

“I was told this is dropping a name, but it’s a great name to drop.”

COLLIDER: Your speed dating continues with me.
BONO: Wow! Speed dating is all about the aftershave, I’m told.
Yes. First of all, sir, I just want to say thank you…
BONO: Hold on, I’m just checking the aftershave. We’re going to get on great with the speed dating.
[Laughs] I really want to start with thank you for your work, your music, and the stuff that you’ve done to help raise people up around the planet. It’s inspiring, and I just want to say thank you.
BONO: It’s mostly the other way around. People have given us an incredible life, enough to pinch myself. Now, here in Cannes on the French Riviera, starring in a superhero movie. It’s not a stretch.
I was wondering when you were going to join the MCU, and apparently it’s now.
BONO: [Laughs] No, it’s a funny thing because in the film, the film ends with me impersonating my father, impersonating the tenor that is Luciano Pavarotti, and here I am impersonating an actor in Cannes. It’s a lot of impersonations in this film.
You are a much better actor than I expected. I really mean this sincerely. The movie’s fantastic. I thought Andrew [Dominik] did such a great job the way he shot it and the lighting.
BONO: Erik Messerschmidt. Also incredible.
It’s really fantastic. But every time I interview people, I always try to ask a few questions first. I love seeing movies in movie theaters, and I’m curious if you have a favorite movie theater.
BONO: I was told this is dropping a name, but it’s a great name to drop because he’s kind of my idol for many reasons: Sean Penn told me the best theater in the world for sound and visuals and screen is Lumière in Palais.
It’s incredible.
BONO: He’s the one who recommended it. I said, “I know it’s incredible, but they’re not going to have my film at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s just a small little film. A little opera.” And he said, “I don’t know. Let them see it. They may like this.” And so I guess they did. I spoke to Thierry Frémaux, and I said, “I’ve been told this is an incredible theater.” He said, “Yes.” He said it was so pleased with it. He said, “But you might like the second theater, also, which is called the Debussy, which is very, very intimate.” And I said, “Which has the best sound?” Because we went to inordinate trouble to get this sound right. He said, “If you’ve done that, you have to go for the Lumière.” So, that’s where I am, my arse right out the window, ready to be spanked, ready to be kicked, and whatever it is. Because it would have been much more modest to not be at the festival as grand as this or to be in a smaller film, but I did it for those reasons.
Bono Shares Words of Wisdom From Nelson Mandela

“Every person in this world has the same value just by being in it.”

Listen, people are going to love it. One of the things that I took away from the film and the way that you stripped down some of the songs and delivered them, your voice shines in a completely different light. What I’m struck by is how powerful it still is, even though you’re over 30 years of age. You can’t doubt it.
BONO: Thank you for that.
How have you managed to keep your voice so amazing, even through all the concerts and all the tours and just the talking you do every day?
BONO: [Laughs] The talking. That’s the question my missus would ask. She says I don’t do full stops or commas, and maybe the odd paragraph would be helpful. But in Ireland, I think talkers are searchers. People say, “Oh, you love language,” and I do, but in conversation, I think I’m inarticulate. I spend a lot of words to try and get to the place. In singing and songwriting, you have to be succinct. So, I’m trying with my singing now to really let the words ring me, like a bell being rung. These Jacknife Lee arrangements, it’s interesting just changing the key, changing the tempo, and then, as long as the song is pushing the story forward, which is why I chose those songs, that’s what an opera is. The songs are there as part of the drama.
You say something in the film: “Poverty is not natural. It is manmade.” There’s a much longer statement, I’ve just abridged it.
BONO: That’s a Nelson Mandela quote from Trafalgar Square. It’s funny, when somebody of that authority says something, and you just go, “Oh, of course.” Poverty is manmade. It is not natural, and can be overcome by the actions of men and women. You know the way he would say things, and suddenly they’d just be true. That changed my life. I believe it to be true. But anyone who’s been in a rock and roll band, punk rock bands, where you’re right there with people… We’re not comfortable in vertical relationships. I don’t think I’ve seen myself, ever, as a boss. I don’t want to have a boss. I’m in a band; it’s horizontal. We look across to each other. That is also true of our audience. So, that is where that comes from, is that sense that every person in our audience, every person in this world, has the same value just by being in it.
This ’80s German Fantasy Drama Is Bono’s All-Time Favorite Film

“It really changed my life.”

Image via Argos Films

At Collider, we have a lot of cinephiles, people who just genuinely love movies. I’m very curious if you have a favorite director or favorite film.
BONO: The film that’s most appropriate happens to be my favorite film of all time. It’s Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders. It really changed my life. It made me understand that some of the things that we would love to rid ourselves of — feeling pain, feeling loss, feeling grief — are necessary parts of love and being in life. These are angels who wish to be human. They wish to feel. It’s the story about angels, as you know. An angel really falls in love with the people that he’s guarding and wishes to feel their pain, wishes to feel their sorrow. He would do anything, and indeed, gives up his own immortality to be human. It’s an astonishing story.
Wim Wenders is a great painter as well as a storyteller. He’s almost the definition of European cinema, which is, “Take off your shoes. You’re going to church. Get in the pew. It’s a cathedral. Let those projections of lights, let’s see them. Let’s see what you’ve got to say here.” And what he’s got to say is usually up to that reverence. Paris, Texas, I also loved. I mean, that’s incredible. I just showed my daughter last summer. She could not believe it. She’d missed it. I just love that.
In the rap community, there’s a lot of collaboration between artists, and what I’ve always wondered is with rock bands and in the space that you occupy, there’s never as many collaborations that I would like. I think of Queen and David Bowie as this amazing, amazing collaboration. I’m just so curious, over the years, why are there not more collaborations between bands?
BONO: Look at the amount of streams David Bowie has on “Under Pressure” with Queen compared to the rest of his. That speaks for itself. We need to do more, but we’re sort of already collaborators because there are four of us in the band. But no, we’re starting to open up a bit more and let people in a bit more. Brian Eno wais a great collaborator. Daniel Lanois was a great collaborator. We’ve been writing with some people, and it might change us going forward. But yeah, let down the walls. It’s okay. These are people. Let them in.
You know what I mean. I look at the rap community and how much they interact with each other, and rock bands just don’t do that.
BONO: It’s kind of wrong, isn’t it?

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Well, I think there’s so much great music.
BONO: I’ll be on, like, “Hey, listen, here’s the story. This dude just put a challenge to us that I think we can’t escape.”
It’s not just U2. It’s all the bands. How come there are not more people being friends and working together to produce great music? That’s all I’m wondering. I gotta go.
BONO: I’ve got something coming with Lil Wayne. Just to let you know.
Bono: Stories of Surrender is streaming on Apple TV+ on May 30.