After decades of unavailability,the Beatles‘ 1970 documentary filmLet It Beis getting a long-awaited reissue — and that’s not all.
Academy Award winning directorSir Peter Jackson(famed for his groundbreakingLord of the Ringstrilogy) is assembling an additional, yet-to-be-titled documentary from 55 hours of outtakes shot in January 1969, while the Beatles were holding sessions for the album that would be released 18 months later asLet It Be.
“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,” Jackson said in a statement. “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.”
Apple Corps Ltd.
Not coincidentally, the news comes on the 50th anniversary of theband’s legendary concert on the roof of their Apple Records headquartersin central London — which served as both the finale of the film and the Beatles’ final live performance outside of the recording studio.
“I was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth,” continues Jackson, “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.”
The project, which has the full cooperation of the surviving Beatles as well asYoko Onoand Olivia Harrison, will reunite Jackson with producer Clare Olssen and editor Jabez Olssen — his collaborators for 2018’s innovativeWorld War I documentaryThey Shall Not Grow Old.
A release date for Jackson’s documentary, and the restoredLet It Be, are still to come.
Relive the Beatles’ first trip to America in 1964 with PEOPLE’sCelebrating Beatlemania! The Beatlesspecial edition,available on Amazonand on newsstands now.
source: people.com
