'That six-year period is such a dramatic transformation in terms of global culture,' the director shared his insight.
- Jul 17, 2014
AceShowbiz - The Beatles authorized documentary is underway with one of the Fab Four's biggest fans in the director seat. Ron Howard is pleased to team up with Apple Corps, the Beatles' business organization, to direct a documentary focusing on the band's touring years.
"I am excited and honored to be working with Apple and the White Horse team on this astounding story of these four young men who stormed the world in 1964," Howard said in a statement. "Their impact on popular culture and the human experience cannot be exaggerated."
The director is joined by Nigel Sinclair, the Grammy-winning producer behind the documentary "George Harrison: Living in the Material World". Sinclair said, "The way the Beatles burst onto the scene in Britain was an overwhelming social, cultural and musical phenomenon, but was even then eclipsed by that extraordinary explosion on the American scene and then the world."
The scope will be between 1960 to 1966 when Beatlemania took over the world and the band toured relentlessly through Europe, North America and parts of Asia. There will be footage from their performance at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966, which was the group's final American concert. Two classic albums "A Hard Day's Night" and "Rubber Soul" were also released between these years.
On grabbing the footage of the San Francisco concert, Sinclair said, "Their last concert in '66, when they were probably the most famous people on the planet, [they] ended up carrying their own amps onstage. I think that's almost emblematic of the charm of this story."
Howard added, "What's so compelling to me is the perspective that we have now, the chance to really understand the impact that they had on the world. That six-year period is such a dramatic transformation in terms of global culture and these remarkable four individuals, who were both geniuses and also entirely relatable. That duality is something that is going to be very interesting to explore."
Howard will also insert new interviews with surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as John Lennon's and George Harrison's widows, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. The untitled The Beatles documentary is scheduled for a tentative late 2015 release.
