Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is making a documentary out of unused footage from the recording of Let It Be, the 1970 album by The Beatles. No band in the history of music has had such a profound impact as The Beatles. The Fab Four are the single most iconic pop group of all time, and their songs remain incredibly popular, even 56 years after the release of their debut album Please Please Me.
One of the most infamous chapters in The Beatles mythology involves the recording of what would ultimately be called Let It Be. Initially planned for release in the summer of 1969, Get Back, as the record was then known, was ultimately shelved due to a myriad of factors, including infighting within the group and a general dissatisfaction with the recording and direction of the album. Instead, The Beatles regrouped and recorded a whole new album, Abby Road, released in the fall of 1969, which served as their true farewell project. However, the Get Back record was eventually revived by legendary producer Phil Spector. Released in May 1970, the reinvigorated Let It Be was the final Beatles album ever to hit store shelves.
The Get Back sessions have long been subject to myth, rumor, and speculation, partly because much of the rehearsals were recorded on film, to make a documentary. The movie, also titled Let It Be, was released in theaters in 1970. Now, Rolling Stone reports acclaimed filmmaker Peter Jackson is stepping in to reassemble the 55 hours of footage and 140 hours of audio into a brand new film documenting the creation of the timeless record. Jackson will be applying the same touch he used with his WWI documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, and this project reunites him with producer Clare Olssen and editor Jabez Olssen, who both worked on that mesmerizing movie.
Jackson's documentary about the recording of Let It Be is currently untitled and without a release date, but any fan of rock and roll music should be excited at the prospect of witnessing, as Jackson calls it, "The ultimate fly-on-the-wall experience." Not only will there be a new film about Let It Be, but the original movie is finally being given a second chance at life. Indeed, the current plan is for a remastered version of Let It Be to release following the completion of Jackson's film. This is huge news for Beatles fans, and for fans of rock and roll documentaries, since the original Let It Be, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, hasn't been commercially available since the 1980s.
Presumably, eager Beatlemaniacs can expect to learn more about Peter Jackson's untitled Let It Be film, as well as the re-release of the original documentary classic, in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the album's original release, which falls on May 8, 2020. In the meantime, fans will just have to let their questions be.
Source: Rolling Stone