The director behind the new Paul Di’Anno documentary has revealed that Iron Maiden were “super cool” in the end when it came to the film, even though the band had stepped back from any official involvement years earlier. Wes Orshoski, who chronicled the troubled final chapter of the late singer’s life in “Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer“, shared the story of one of the film’s most emotional scenes — and how he nearly couldn’t use it at all.
Appearing on “The David Ellefson Show“, hosted by former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson alongside co-host Joshua Toomey, Orshoski discussed how he managed to film Di’Anno‘s first face-to-face meeting with Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris in three decades, which took place in May 2022 ahead of the band’s concert in Croatia.
The veteran filmmaker, co-director and producer of the acclaimed 2010 Motörhead documentary “Lemmy“, explained that the historic moment was almost lost to logistics.
“ The funny thing is I filmed it on my phone. I filmed that scene on my phone because I… The day after I signed the contract to make this film in 2017, I called Rod Smallwood. I had a phone call with Rod and Dave Shack [managing director of Phantom Music, Maiden‘s artist management company], and they were so nice. Rod was so cool. He said, ‘I love the ‘Lemmy‘ film, and I love what you do, but we’re not gonna be involved in this.’ And so they had told me way back in 2017, five years prior, that they weren’t gonna be involved, and so I didn’t wanna bring attention to myself. I snuck my camera in. So I snuck in with Paul. I guess if you wanna get into a concert in Croatia, go in with the rock and roll legend in the wheelchair. And so we snuck in. Well, I wasn’t the only one, by the way. And I just kind of hung out in the corner behind a few people, and I didn’t wanna take my camera out. So when Steve actually came into the room, I just filmed it on my phone, and a couple other people were filming it on their phones. And so that was a big kind of stressful situation for years, whether he would sign off on it. And Maiden, in the end, were super cool and allowed me to [use the footage in the film],” he reaclled (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
When asked whether Harris was the only Iron Maiden member to come and greet Di’Anno that day, Orshoski admitted he had hoped for more.
“Yeah, that broke my heart,” he said. “I was so hoping that… I’ve only maybe seen one or two interviews ever with Dave Murray. I was, like, ‘Oh, man, how cool would it be if Dave walked in, or Adrian [Smith], or even Bruce [Dickinson]?’ But, no, Steve was the only guy. In that moment, if you guys re-watch it, it’s all about that initial moment when they see each other and they smile. Because they haven’t hung out in 40 years, so they don’t really know each other anymore, but in that moment, there’s tenderness. And then they kind of default to that kind of shy British kind of thing.”
Orshoski also reflected on one of the great “what ifs” of Di’Anno‘s story — the fact that the singer sold off the rights to much of the music he wrote with Iron Maiden years ago for a relatively modest sum.
“I’ve often wondered if Paul had never sold those rights, what his situation would’ve been like,” he continued. “Instead of living in a small three-room apartment in Salisbury, would he have a house and would he have money to kind of, like, afford private health care at the time? Or I think what a lot of people told me through interviewing people for the film is he probably would’ve burned through all the money he had. That was just kind of his personality, I think. I think if he would’ve had more money, he would’ve spent it more, and who knows? I mean, maybe he would’ve been a casualty at a much younger age.”
The director suggested that Di’Anno‘s biggest disadvantage was a lack of the support system that helped other singers thrive after leaving their famous bands.
“But I think the big problem with Paul, somebody says it in the film, is whereas when [Ronnie James] Dio went solo or when Ozzy [Osbourne] went solo, they had infrastructure. They had good management. They had a great band. And Paul didn’t really have any of those things. He made an AOR album out of Maiden. Even if he had made a punk album, the first thing he did after Maiden, I think that would’ve been better for him than what he ended up doing.”
“Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer” tells the story of how two Iron Maiden fans found the former singer at the lowest point of his life and set out to restore his health and revive his career. Wheelchair-bound since the mid-2010s, Di’Anno saw his health collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting the fans to launch a crowdfunding campaign that eventually relocated him to Croatia. There, with the help of those supporters and local doctors, he staged a dramatic turnaround — reuniting with former bandmates, falling in love, and making an emotional return to the stage. Orshoski began shooting the project back in 2017.
The documentary features appearances from James Hetfield of Metallica, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Steve Harris, and members of Exodus, Slayer, Megadeth, Overkill and Sepultura. It received its North American theatrical premiere on June 9, 2026 through Cleopatra Entertainment.
One of the defining figures of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the London-born Di’Anno helped break Iron Maiden worldwide, lending his voice to two of the most foundational albums in metal history: Iron Maiden‘s 1980 self-titled debut and its celebrated 1981 follow-up, Killers. In one of the most debated sagas in heavy metal, he left the band in 1981 and was replaced by Bruce Dickinson, sparking an argument over which singer and which era was better that still continues nearly 50 years later.
Di’Anno, whose real name was Paul Andrews, died on October 21, 2024 at his home in Salisbury at the age of 66. He was laid to rest on November 21, 2024 at the City Of London Cemetery And Crematorium in Manor Park, East London.
