Peter Jackson is directing a new documentary film about The Beatles. The currently untitled feature film “will be based around 55 hours of never-released footage of The Beatles in the studio, shot between January 2nd and January 31st, 1969,” which resulted in their post-breakup May 1970 album Let It Be.
Surviving members of The Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono Lennon and George Harrison’s widow Olivia Harrison are supporting the new film. There currently is no release date set for the documentary, which will present the “only footage of any note that documents [The Beatles] at work in the studio.” A restored edition of the original Michael Lindsay-Hogg-directed Let It Be film featuring The Beatles final performance on the roof of Apple’s London office on January 30, 1969, will be released after the new film comes out.
“The 55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to us, ensures this movie will be the ultimate ‘fly on the wall’ experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about,” said Jackson. “It’s like a time machine transports us back to 1969, and we get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together. I was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth. After reviewing all the footage and audio that Michael Lindsay-Hogg shot 18 months before they broke up, it’s simply an amazing historical treasure-trove. Sure, there’s moments of drama – but none of the discord this project has long been associated with. Watching John, Paul, George, and Ringo work together, creating now-classic songs from scratch, is not only fascinating – it’s funny, uplifting and surprisingly intimate. I’m thrilled and honored to have been entrusted with this remarkable footage – making the movie will be a sheer joy.”
