Singer and pianist Andy McMahon made his film debut on Tuesday in his documentary “Dear Jack,” directed by Corey Moss and Josh Morrisroe. “Dear Jack” is a personal account of McMahon’s victory over cancer and his growth as a musician.
“I always said I would die young,” he claims in the documentary.
In May of 2005 when he was 22, McMahon was putting the finishing touches on “Everything in Transit,” the debut album for his solo project, Jack’s Mannequin. At the time, Sire Records had equipped him with a DV camera to capture the making of “Transit.” However, he was faced with a different fate when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the same month. With his DV camera, McMahon began videotaping what would become a documentary with the power to incite efforts to raise awareness for cancer research.
The movie begins with Tommy Lee narrating over home videos of McMahon at the piano as a child. Later, his mother talks about how McMahon started playing music after his uncle’s cancer-related death. His uncle was a hero and his death had a profound effect on him as a boy.
McMahon grew up playing music and would become the front man of Orange County sensation Something Corporate. His girlfriend, Kelly, introduced their high school and auditorium stage in the film, where he played battle of the bands with Something Corporate.
Jumping back and forth between confessional segments from McMahon and studio sessions for “Everything in Transit,” “Dear Jack” is a complete representation of his early 20s.
“Once the movie was finished, I was really set free. It closed that chapter of my life,” McMahon said in an interview with Yale Daily.
The documentary contains segments captured months before his diagnosis while playing at South by Southwest. From the sentimental segments of McMahon’s music life, the documentary moves forward with him struggling to shave his head for chemotherapy.
“We’re going to go to war on this,” he said after clips of Kelly shaving his head for him.
The documentary includes clips from McMahon’s personal journal’s with entries stating, “A little boy painfully sensitive. Weak, nauseous. I am a sick man.”
In and out of hospital rooms, McMahon spent the time when he was not being treated preparing for his musical return.
“I believe that his desire to play music had a hand in his recovery,” his father said in the documentary.
After his treatment, McMahon decided to play a “100 days” show promoting the ideal for cancer survivors, “If you make it 100 days, chances are you will make it 100 more.”
While playing the song “Bruised” live after his recovery, he looked into the crowd while singing the words, “I swear I didn’t mean for it to feel like this” in reference to Kelly’s strength during his sickness.
“I remember nights when we would just talk,” she said in the documentary.
“Dear Jack” chronicles the emotional relevance behind the creation of “Everything in Transit,” such as the actual “mixed tape” that he made for Kelly prior to album being released.
The “Dear Jack” DVD was released alongside a “Dear Jack EP,” which includes the song, “There, There Katie,” dedicated to his sister who saved his life with a stem-cell transplant. The EP also includes the late release of the song “Dear Jack,” which was written during the conception of the side project. The song was inspired by McMahon’s friend Jack, who was coincidentally also a cancer survivor.
“So I named the band after him and then when I was sick with the same thing, it was bizarre – I don’t know if serendipitous is the word, considering – but it was definitively a weird, faded deal,” McMahon said in an interview with Daily Targum. “Then I started recovering and decided I would start a foundation, trying to give back for the sake for that I was here and well, it seemed appropriate to call the foundation Dear Jack.”
The Dear Jack Foundation was created in 2006 and works toward finding organizations with the potential to impact the fight against diseases like cancer.
With the success of his music and the Dear Jack movement, McMahon was given the opportunity to join Stand Up To Cancer with other celebrities such as Mandy Moore and Kirsten Dunst beginning December 2009. Stand Up To Cancer is a team that has funded over $100 million in research aimed at getting new treatments to patients faster as well as encouraging public knowledge of benefits promoting cancer awareness and research.
The “Dear Jack” DVD and EP is available in stores and via iTunes download. Jack’s Mannequin will be touring with Weezer to promote their latest albums, “The Glass Passenger” and “Dear Jack.”
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