Kenny Loggins, the king of the movie soundtracks, is the star of a new documentary titled “Conviction of the Heart.”
The 94-minute film, directed by Dori Berinstein (“Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love”), is named after Loggins’ 1991 song “Convictions of the Heart,” which former Vice President Al Gore dubbed the anthem of the environmental movement.
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In the doc, Loggins explains the origins of several hit songs, including “Footloose” and “Danger Zone,” featured in “Top Gun.” The doc also chronicles the music legend’s childhood as a shy, gawky, and unpopular kid with low self-esteem growing up in California; Loggins’ key role in the folk-rock movement with Loggins & Messina, a pop-rock duo he formed with Jimmy Messina in the 1970s; and the singer’s rise to fame in the 1980s as a solo artist who went on to win multiple Grammys and achieved global recognition because of the songs he wrote and sang for hit movies including “Footloose,” “Top Gun,” “Caddyshack,” and “A Star Is Born.”
Before a sneak preview of “Conviction of the Heart” on July 24 at NewportFILM Outdoors, a documentary summer series held in Newport, R.I., Berinstein and Loggins discussed the making of the documentary.
Berinstein, a filmmaker and Broadway producer, initially reached out to Loggins in 2020 about possibly participating in a Broadway show about the “transformative power of music.”
“I wanted so badly to involve Kenny in this show,” said Berinstein.
But after a meeting with Loggins, the director thought a documentary about his life might be a good idea. Then the pandemic hit, and Berinstein decided to put the Broadway show on pause and pursue the doc.
Using archival footage and interviews with Loggins, his five children, and collaborators and artists including Clive Davis, David Foster, and Kevin Bacon, the film candidly explores the singer’s personal life, his persona on and off the stage, and his as successful collaborations with artists including Michael Jackson, Melissa Manchester, Thundercat, Barbra Streisand, and Stevie Nicks.
“I’ve been approached over the years by different wannabe filmmakers,” Loggins said. “But after I spoke with Dori, I realized that if she can make this happen, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be great. So I stuck with it.”
In recent years, Loggins has been in the zeitgeist with the global success of “Top Gun: Maverick, and frequent cameos and shout-outs on “Family Guy”, “Archer,” “The Office” and “Frankie & Grace,” which Berinstein said has inspired younger audiences to discover his catalog for the first time.
The director said that cutting down four years of footage into a 94-minute film was “torture.”
“I just wish people would go and see eight-hour movies,” she said. “There are so many moments that are not in the movie that I wish could be in the movie.”
Berinstein planned to wrap filming in 2022 after Loggins and Messina’s 50th Anniversary Reunion Concert at the Hollywood Bowl, but shortly after that concert, the singer-songwriter, 77, announced a farewell tour in 2023.
“So absolutely we were not done,” said Berinstein. “We had to go back in and re-cut the entire film, and we shot for another year and a half.”
In the film, Loggins, who spent 50 years touring the road, doesn’t hold back when talking about chasing his artistic dreams, staying in the game, and being a father on the road.
“It’s been an interesting foray into the past to see where I was and where it went. I didn’t realize how driven I was,” Loggins said. “I knew that if I wanted to really show up on film, I had to show up for myself in this process. So, it was sort of like a version of therapy.”
Josh Braun at Submarine Entertainment is repping “Conviction of the Heart.”
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