Legendary Recording Sessions To Be Given Big Screen Treatment
Filmmaker Peter Jackson has announced his next project will be a documentary film of the recording sessions of The Beatles final album, Let It Be.
Fresh on the back of last year’s fantastic First World War documentary film They Shall Not Grow Old, Jackson will have carte blanche to the archive of all 55 hours of video footage and 140 hours of audio, recorded during those sessions.
The footage was recorded at that time when The Beatles were at each other’s throats creatively and personally and captured the beginning of the end of this cultural phenomenon. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, there was the obligatory humour and genius scattered amongst the pain.
Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 documentary Let It Be, featured some of this footage, including the famous live concert from the studio rooftop on Savile Row, London.
Talking about the project, Jackson said:
“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 … 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.”
“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 … I’m thrilled and honoured to have been entrusted with this remarkable footage. Making the movie will be a sheer joy.”
Jackson is partnering with The Beatles’ record company Apple, and has the approval of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.
Jackson will use similar film restoration techniques he expertly employed during the production of They Shall Not Grow Old.
After Jackson’s film is released, a restored version of the original 1970 Let It Be movie will also be made available.
