Lord of the Ringos: Peter Jackson to direct epic new Beatles documentary
The film will draw from 55 hours of never-released, and painstakingly restored, studio footage from Let It Be
He's best known for bringing The Lord of the Rings to the big screen, but now director Peter Jackson is setting his sights on the story of the Fab Four — and specifically, the recording of their final album.
Created in conjunction with Apple Corps Ltd., the company that oversees all Beatles-related film and publishing, the as-yet untitled film will be built around 55 hours of never-released studio footage, all of it shot between Jan. 2 and 31, 1969.
The sessions led to the Grammy-winning album Let it Be, which was released more than a year later, months after the band had broken up.
According to a statement, the footage was originally meant for a TV special, but it turned into something completely different — ending with the band's legendary rooftop performance, which happened 50 years ago today.
"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."
The band made countless appearances in films, on TV and in concerts, but the unreleased footage is the first of any length that documents the band's work in the studio.
Because the album was the band's last, many fans hear it as the product of a band rife with conflict and nearing a breakup — but Jackson says that wasn't necessarily the case.
"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," he says.
"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."
The footage is being restored by New Zealand's Park Road Post using the same painstaking techniques as were used in Jackson's recent WW I documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old.
"I'm thrilled and honoured to have been entrusted with this remarkable footage — making the movie will be a sheer joy."
In a strange twist, it turns out that in the 1960s the Beatles tried to obtain the film rights to Lord of the Rings; John Lennon wanted to play Gollum, and Paul McCartney would have been Frodo, with Stanley Kubrick directing.
According to the BBC, The Hobbit author J.R.R. Tolkien reportedly refused the request.