Legendary drummer Mick Fleetwood has always marched to his own intricate beat, becoming, from an early age, a musician and rock star persona of mythical proportions. Though much has been written, spoken and speculated about the co-founder of the mega platinum-selling and Grammy-winning Fleetwood Mac, this is the first time that Fleetwood has been directly involved in the making of a documentary that thoroughly traces his personal and colorful journey thus far. After all, who better to tell his gripping story than Fleetwood himself?

Image Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISK), the distribution powerhouse long recognized as the market leader in music video long form DVDs, will release The Mick Fleetwood Story: Two Sticks and a Drum, on DVD and videocassette, October 8.

"I’ve had experience with Image, and I am very comfortable with them handling this type of distribution," Fleetwood comments of Image’s key involvement with the audio-visual representation of his life.

The film’s retail launch coincides with a two-CD box set, The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac, and precedes an album of new material and subsequent Fleetwood Mac tour slated for early 2003. Fleetwood and the rest of the band are currently in the studio completing work on the upcoming CD release.

"There’s going to be a lot of Fleetwood Mac consciousness flying around one way or another," the genteel giant observes. "It’s an ideal time for this documentary to come out."

Two Sticks and A Drum highlights Fleetwood’s first-hand accounts of his development as a drummer – and his often agonizing evolution as a human being. Far exceeding sex-drugs-and-rock-n-roll sensationalism, it’s honest without being exploitive.

"To do a biography on me you have to be careful because it could easily turn into a Fleetwood Mac documentary," acknowledges Fleetwood of the sometimes-nebulous identity between the individual and the collective, both reputed for their past notorious exploits. "I’m pretty confident that it didn’t turn out to be a story about Fleetwood Mac because I think you really get a sense of a little drummer boy going through his life."

Interviewed exclusively for Two Sticks and A Drum, the well-traveled Fleetwood takes viewers to significant locations, including London, Africa, Maui, and even Gloucester Station where his parents saw him off to pursue what he calls a "pipe dream."

This in-depth autobiography also includes insightful interviews with Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Peter Green, Lindsey Buckingham, John Mayall and the Fleetwood family. Rare footage, still photographs, and narration by Kate Harper also serve to tell The Mick Fleetwood Story. Executive producer Richard Journo co-directed with producer Jason Wright. The packaging includes a poignant poem, printed in its entirety, that Fleetwood’s father wrote, from which the film’s title is taken, and from which Mick himself reads an excerpt on-camera, bringing its significance full circle.

"I’m really happy with the documentary," Fleetwood reveals. "Richard Journo is a kind human being, and I love him a lot. I feel he did an excellent job of honestly portraying the stories of my life."

The result is a sense of unusual accessibility that opens up to a fascinating experience that’s sometimes astonishing, sometimes humorous, occasionally melancholy, and that ultimately beats a triumphant rhythm of life.