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Article IndexGriffin was starting to dabble in photography, and convinced Jon Bon Jovi to pose for a portrait.
"Jon saw the picture and said. ‘Wow, you really got me,'" Griffin said.
The relationship built, with Griffin touring with the band and taking more photos.
The group had started work on a book, but Jon Bon Jovi was not happy with the process. He cancelled plans for the book and wanted to instead do a film.
According to Griffin, "Jon said to me, ‘You understand us. Why don't you make a film with us? We want to make a documentary."
Ironically, a companion book to the film is being published.
Griffin said the documentary's title, "When We Were Beautiful," is about innocence.
"It's about that time in our lives where our world did not go beyond our block," he told the screening audience. "For these four guys what I discovered by spending more than a year with them was that the world has never gone beyond their block, which is why they stayed together, which is why they're brothers, which is why I think they are more important than just a rock band. "
In the theater lobby after the screening, Griffin admitted he was not an immediate fan of the band. In fact, "When We Were Beautiful" addresses the fact head-on that music critics have never been fans of Bon Jovi.
"I love this band," Griffin said. "I did not love this band when I worked with them from the beginning."
But after spending time with Bon Jovi, Griffin had a change of heart.
"Their honesty that they were able to give me changed my opinion of them from Bon Joni ‘Living On A Prayer' to, ‘My God, these four guys are beautiful, beautiful men,'" he said.
Griffin denied that the film is a whitewash of the band members, who are portrayed as devoted family men. In the documentary, there are no drugs, no groupies, no drinking. Being a rock star is depicted as lonely, grueling work.
"As a documentarian, I have dug," Griffin said. "I have really tried to find the dirt."
Certainly, Torres explains his struggle with alcohol, just as Sambora outlines his problems.
Griffin, who worked for the film's producer — the Oscar and Emmy-winning @radical.media — argued with Jon Bon Jovi about certain scenes. But Griffin maintained that the group leader really let the director retain control.
"I never gave in, never," Griffin said. "We had some fights about what I wanted to say about him as opposed to what he wanted to say about himself."
Jon Bon Jovi was "always very gracious, and said, ‘If you believe that's the way the film should be, then let it go,'" according to Griffin.
The band leader is depicted as a very astute businessman who is full hands-on in terms of decisions and direction. He is also involved in various charities.
"Jon's philanthropy and his business head are co-joined," Griffin said. "He is what he is. He's a very gentle, gentleman. He does not do stuff that he doesn't want to do. But when he does stuff, he does properly."
Griffin, ready to set out for the after-party, described Jon Bon Jovi as a reluctant hero.
"I had been in arguments with him about how reluctant he is to be a hero," Griffin said. "He is a hero. He works really hard to make his band work, make his charities work, make his home life work. His wife is the most beautiful woman, and his kids."
Related:
‘Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful' gives viewers a behind the scenes look at New Jersey's native sons
Bon Jovi set to be first band to kick off in new Meadowlands Stadium
