Metallica's Robert Trujillo On Creativity, Fitness, and New Movie 'Through The Never'

Sept. 26, 2013— -- Metallica’s previous foray into film -- 2004’s "Some Kind of Monster" – served as possibly one of the most un-metal movies about a metal band. That documentary, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, centered largely on members’ personal lives as well as intra-band turmoil, down to group therapy sessions.

So if that was a look at Metallica, the individuals, their new group cinematic effort is once again all about Metallica, the musicians and showmen. "Metallica Through the Never" comes out nationwide this Friday, with a soundtrack out today on the band’s own imprint, Blackened Recordings. And it stands in stark contrast to "Some Kind of Monster" – it’s almost a complete flight of fancy.

The 3-D IMAX creation upends the usual concert film, with director Nimród Antal weaving the band’s live performance together with the journey of a fictional young roadie, Trip. As he sets out on a surreal odyssey to collect a desperately needed mystery item, Metallica roars to life on a custom-designed, 360-degree stage from which musical and technical wizardry spews.

While Trip avoids everything from rioters to a murderous masked horseman, Metallica charges through three decades of fan-favorite songs and stage productions. There are 15-foot Tesla-coil lightning bolts. There are multiple Lady Justice statues. There are, even, 5000 specially bred colored maggots.

In other words, Metallica has grown up, but not necessarily old. We caught up with bassist Robert Trujillo to chat about staying Metallica fit and creative.

Fusion: This isn’t the first Metallica movie. What keeps drawing you as a band back to the big screen?

Robert Trujillo: One of the things I’ve realized in my time as a band is that we like to challenge ourselves. That could mean taking on a recording project with Lou Reed, or back when I first joined the band, Some Kind of Monster.

Metallica Through the Never to me is an extension of all of that. These guys are crazy. We just jump in the water and swim and we take the chance, and we always hope that we don’t drown. I think that’s what makes Metallica keep on ticking.

The other thing with our performances is that there’s the side of being physical and maintaining ourselves and being fit for a two-hour show. As we get older, we’ve kind of nurtured ourselves. We keep ourselves in the right frame of mind and keep our bodies right so we don’t hurt ourselves.

So what’s your fitness regime like, then, to get ready for a two-hour show?

In life in general you start going through these transitions with age, and you learn how to adapt. If you don’t learn how to adapt, you can hurt yourself. For a Metallica show, I have a trainer, and we do drills and a lot of cardio-oriented exercises on a football field, believe it or not. There’s a lot of running through cones and using BOSU balls and yoga stretches.

I know Kirk [Hammett, Metallica guitarist] does yoga in the morning, and he does about a half hour of yoga before he goes onstage. Lars [Ulrich, drummer] is an active runner. I used to do cardio kick classes with [frontman] James Hetfield. James also likes to ride his bike and go on long walks.

All that helps, as well as monitoring nutrition. Lars has been on this crazy nutrition plan and that guy’s lost like 25 pounds. I’m worried he’s going to starve himself.

What’s so crazy about it?

I don’t know the technical aspects of it, but it’s a certain amount of carbs, and none of this, none of that. No fruit. It depends.