Oasis documentary directors detail the “fascinating” process of watching the Gallaghers gradually mend relationship

Not so long ago, the idea of the Gallagher brothers ever reconciling seemed too far-fetched to be true.

Liam and Noel – who had always had a temperamental relationship, to put it mildly – had not spoken to each other for 15 years after an infamously bitter falling out ahead of a gig in Paris back in 2009, and neither seemed especially keen on mending their brotherly bond.

So while fans hoped and prayed that an Oasis reunion might be on the cards, for a long time it seemed that the iconic Mancunian band would forever be consigned to the past.

Then came the announcement in 2024 that the band would be reforming after all for a record-breaking world tour the following year, which is now the focus of a brand new documentary suitably titled Don't Look Back in Anger.

The film is directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, who spoke exclusively to Radio Times ahead of release and admitted that they were among those fans who had all but given up hope of a reunion.

"It didn't seem likely," Lovelace says. "It didn't seem likely in those 15 years apart at all. So when we heard that they were coming back, I guess we had the same feeling that everyone in the crowd had. Well, my feeling was to get on my phone and try and get a ticket!

"But the moment it became a possibility we could be making this film... it got very exciting."

Want to see this content?

This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.

Southern explained that while the immediate reaction to being asked to make the film was a definite yes, that was quickly followed by the realisation that the project they were signing on to was a pretty daunting one.

"[We thought], 'Oh my God, now we've actually got to do this,'" he recalls. "And there's so many people looking at this, and so many fans with huge expectations."

The film – which recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival ahead of its UK release this week – will likely meet the expectation of most of those fans.

Consisting of unseen rehearsal footage, brand new interviews and plenty of live performances from the tour, it captures the euphoria of the gigs while serving as a first-hand document of the gradual reconciliation between the two brothers.

"It definitely kind of built," Lovelace says when asked if he was surprised by the way the pair's relationship redeveloped, while Southern adds that the process was definitely "gradual".

"There's a a bit I love in the film where they're walking to stage in Cardiff, and they kind of turn the corner," Lovelace continues.

"They're just chatting away, the two of them, and Tomorrow Never Knows is playing. You can hear the crowd, and there's definitely a nervousness behind the curtain about to go on.

"And that started small, I guess, and their relationship got closer as they played to thousands of people across the world. It was an amazing thing to see that get closer and closer and closer as as the tour played out."

Southern adds that they "were so workmanlike" during rehearsals, pointing out that there was – perhaps unsurprisingly – no initial tearful reunion on the first day.

"Liam turns up on the first day, drops his bag. He's like, 'Right, should we do it?'" he recalls. "They play for two hours and as they're playing the outro to Champagne Supernova, he picks up his bag and leaves. And like we're like, 'Oh my, was that it?'

"And he did that every day. So we got to the end of rehearsals, and we're still a little uncertain of where they stood with each other, and it was only when the sort of magic ingredient of the crowd was added, and they were hit with this like massive tidal wave of emotion and joy and love, that you could really see them starting to get close.

"As corny as it sounds, it was the music and the fans that pushed them closer together over the course of the tour, and it was amazing to be witness to that."

Southern and Lovelace are no strangers to music documentaries – having previously made films about LCD Soundsystem and Oasis's Britpop rivals Blur – but this was a very different set of circumstances that came with new challenges given the "situation of the two lead characters".

Crucially, they "didn't want to be the irritating film crew" that was getting in the way of a "very sensitive, very important moment" and so had to design an approach that would keep them out of the picture without interfering or influencing what was going on.

"Our job was just to be invisible," Southern says. "So we rigged our cameras in the rehearsal space, and stepped back into a very hot Portakabin with no aircon, and we got this privileged view on the monitors of what was unfolding."

"We wanted to make a film that was that was intimate but that takes place in places with huge scale, and that's really exciting," adds Lovelace.

"But that's a daunting thing to try and get. You want to be close to people in the crowd and close to them and capture what it feels like for everyone involved, but also capture the scale of it."

"The hope is to make something really human and really intimate with this massive scale," Southern continues.

"But as filmmakers we're kind of on tour as well, bringing our filmmaking machine everywhere the band goes. So it was probably the most logistically challenging film that we've made!"

Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger is now showing in UK cinemas.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.