Daryl hannah tells all about her new neil young movie 'neil young: coastal' | members only

After spending most of her career in front of cameras, actress Daryl Hannah, 64, has found a more challenging, and comfortable, position behind them. Since 2018, Hannah has directed four

films about her husband, musician Neil Young, 79. The newest, _Neil Young: Coastal_, is a behind-the-scenes account of Young’s lauded 2023 solo tour. It will be in movie theaters worldwide

April 17 (and in many cities screenings have been added for April 19-20 by popular demand). A companion live album, _Coastal: The Soundtrack__ _, will be out April 17 with 11 songs recorded

on the tour, including Young classics “I Am a Child,” “Expecting to Fly,” “Comes a Time” and 2021's “Don’t Forget Love.” She captures Young delivering such rarely performed tunes as

“I’m the Ocean,” “Prime of Life” and “Vampire Blues,” accompanying himself on acoustic and 12-string guitars, piano, pump organ and harmonica. Offstage, Young rides in his homey Silver Eagle

tour bus. His two dogs and cerebral palsy-afflicted son Ben come along for a spell. He huddles backstage with old friend Joni Mitchell, 81. A musical feast of obscurities and a revealing

profile of an enigmatic rock hero, _Neil Young: Coastal_ also underscores Hannah’s cinematic sense for emotional resonance and authenticity. Hannah rose to stardom in the 1980s (_Blade

Runner_, _Splash_, _Steel Magnolias_, _Wall Street_, _Roxanne_). After high-profile relationships with John F. Kennedy Jr., Jackson Browne and Val Kilmer, Hannah began dating Young in 2014

and married him in 2018. She tells AARP about her latest film as a director. “I wanted to show a different aspect of touring,” says Hannah on capturing candid moments of Neil Young and

others. “The lightheartedness offstage that he carries onstage.” Courtesy Dana Fineman WHAT DID YOU HOPE TO UNVEIL IN _COASTAL_? I wanted to show a different aspect of touring. Some goofy

_Beavis & Butthead_-type moments with Neil and [driver] Jerry Don on the bus, and how he continues that conversation with the audience. The lightheartedness offstage that he carries

onstage. So many performers put on a persona and are completely different people onstage. Neil is not that way. He’s exactly the same — completely guileless. And I wanted to show the real

solitary nature of a solo tour. It’s not like this big party scene that people imagine. HOW DID YOU APPROACH FILMING THE PERFORMANCES? Neil doesn’t tend to rehearse, so I had no idea what

each show was until I saw it. I did know he wanted to play songs he had never played on stage before. He thought it would make it interesting for himself and for the audience. I didn’t know

what he would play or what instruments, and I didn’t have 20 cameras to place around the stage. It was hit or miss, and a lot of times it was miss, because I put cameras in front of the

wrong instrument. YOU DID GET A WONDERFUL DAYTIME SCENE OF HIM PERFORMING ALONE ON THE PIANO IN AN EMPTY ARENA. That was the Berkeley Greek, and he was playing “Expecting to Fly" [his

1967 Buffalo Springfield tune]. I was so excited. I thought, _OK, we’ll put the camera there tonight._ But he didn’t play it, and we never got that song.