Idaho Today has an exclusive chat with director Gotham Chopra of the four-episode docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story. The series premieres all four episodes on April 26, 2024, on Hulu.
An unlikely shared love of the New England Patriots and admiration for Tom Brady led Jon Bon Jovi to director Gotham Chopra, son of Deepak Chopra, who has carved an impressive career crafting documentaries about larger-than-life sports figures. His Brady documentary caught the rocker's eye, and he asked Gotham if he would consider filming the true story of what he called "five guys from nowhere."
"Nowhere" was Sayreville, New Jersey, a blue-collar town where kids didn't aspire to Ivy League schools or any college but followed their parents' footsteps into the trades.
The filmmakers of "Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story" joined the band in February 2022 and followed their real-time journey as they attempted to chart their future. Chopra has woven 40 years of personal videos, unreleased early demos, original lyrics, and never-before-seen photos that chronicle the journey from Jersey Shore Clubs to the biggest stages on the planet.
Jon Bon Jovi is AARP material now, but once upon a time, this hair-blessed guitar god was a frontman for the pride of New Jersey. Next to the other pillar of rock, Bruce Springsteen, the band Bon Jovi became a platinum-selling stadium tour phenomenon that still makes music to this day.
However, Jon has some health issues and recently lost an original band member, Alec John Such, the Bon Jovi bassist and founding member, who died in 2022. Chopra's film is as much a look-back memento for Jon and the surviving members as it is a chronicling of the biggest touring band of the 1980s. "Nobody really knew it could get this big," says Bon Jovi, whose voiceover fills in the details of never-before-seen tapes of his early days rocking the world after the enormous hit LP "Slippery When Wet" was released.
The 40th anniversary of the band's existence is the starting point as the band gets back into touring mode for fifteen shows. Old familiar roadies and techs gather as John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (Bon Jovi) reminisces about how it all started. The heartaches, the exhilaration, the burned bridges and hatchets buried, he covers the inside story and relives his blue-collar American dream that fans will devour and serve as a historical record for the Garden State's hair band that could rock the house down.
The truth is, the body wears out over time, even for rich rock stars. The Bon Jovi frontman, 61, talked about his health at Hulu's panel for the new docuseries Thank You, Good Night at the Television Critics Association Winter press tour, saying he was "ready to talk" about his vocal surgery. "I pride myself on having been a true vocalist. I've sung with Pavarotti. I know how to sing. I've studied the craft for 40 years. I'm not a stylist who just barks and howls. I know how to sing...So when God was taking away my ability, and I couldn't understand why, I jokingly have said the only thing that's ever been up my nose is my finger, so there's no reason for any of this."
Bon Jovi's vocal cords, surgery, and recovery are part of this story, as older rockers have to get in physical shape to achieve stage-worthiness for their adoring fans, many of whom are grandparents now.
Of note, he shared his home was not a musical one. Still, AM radio and a neighbor who played guitar piqued his interest in singing and performing. He put in the hours to get to where he could comprehend song structure and the language of music, starting the road to the band that would be his destiny.
Idaho Today recommends this series, which recounts the band's triumphs and setbacks, greatest hits, biggest disappointments, and most public moments of friction.
"Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story" is directed and executive produced by Gotham Chopra, multiple Emmy Award winner ("Kobe Bryant's Muse," "Man in the Arena," "Tom vs. Time").
Tune in: Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story premieres April 26, 2024, on Hulu.
