Avicii, the groundbreaking Swedish DJ-producer, died six years ago. He was 28. It was a tragedy that reverberated around the world — much like his music, which brought unexpected genres and collaborators into his melodic EDM through forward-thinking, chart-topping hits like “Wake Me Up!” and “Hey Brother.”.
On Dec. 31, two new movies, a short concert film captured at what became his final performance, “Avicii — My Last Show,” and a full-length documentary, “Avicii — I’m Tim," will premiere on Netflix. They work to celebrate the artist born Tim Bergling, capturing his early life, the songs that made him an idiosyncratic talent, his insatiable curiosity and hunger for reinvention, and the people he left behind.
Miraculously, Bergling himself narrates a lot of the film — pulled from archival interviews and some never before published. Capturing Avicii's life and career was no easy feat, director Henrik Burman told The Associated Press. The project took half-a-decade, beginning before the pandemic and only about a year-and-half after Bergling's death. Burman's interviews were long and many. “To know people around Tim,” he says, was the only way “to know Tim.”.
Burman discussed Avicii's life, career and legacy with The Associated Press. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: How did you approach this project?. BURMAN: I would say from the beginning, the first thing I knew I wanted to do was find my story... the story that I wanted to tell about Tim. But the most important (aspect) was time. I wanted this to be a project with no time limits... I wanted it to be a slow process. And I wanted to have a lot of time for research. And the people close to Tim, I didn't want to force them into anything. I didn't want to push it. I wanted them to see and learn what I wanted to tell, you know, my story and my vision.
