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Peter Jackson to make new Beatles documentary using unseen footage from ‘Let It Be’ sessions

‘We get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together’

Wednesday 30 January 2019 11:25 GMT

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Beatles 'White Album': 50th Anniversary editions released by Apple Music

Peter Jackson’s next project has been announced: a revised version of The Beatles documentary Let It Be.

The Lord of the Rings filmmaker will use 55 hours of in-studio footage initially filmed by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg for the original 1970 film.

Paul McCartney has previously hinted that a new version of Let It Be was being worked on, having been disappointed with the original’s downbeat take on the recording sessions – which took place just a year before the band broke up.

Jackson said in a statement of making the new film: “The 55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to us ensure this movie will be the ultimate ‘fly on the wall’ experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about.

“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.”

 Director Peter Jackson  (Getty)

For those fans intrigued by Lindsay-Hogg’s original film, Apple has confirmed that his version will be released “following the release of this new film”.

Jackson agreed with McCartney that the original does not represent what was actually happening in the studio at the time. “I was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth,” Jackson said.

“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 are 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.

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The Beatles’ White Album at 50

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1/10The Beatles’ White Album at 50

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

The Mad Day Out Photo Session

In November 1968, millions of double LPs were shipped to record stores worldwide ahead of that tumultuous year’s most anticipated music event: the November 22nd release of The Beatles (soon to be better known as ‘The White Album’). With their ninth studio album, The Beatles took the world on a whole new trip, side one blasting off with the exhilarating rush of a screaming jet escorting Paul McCartney’s punchy, exuberant vocals on “Back In The U.S.S.R.” “Dear Prudence” came next, John Lennon warmly beckoning his friend and all of us to “look around.”

Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

George Harrison at Abbey Road Studios

George Harrison imparted timeless wisdom in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” singing, “With every mistake we must surely be learning.” Ringo Starr’s “Don’t Pass Me By” marked his first solo songwriting credit on a Beatles album

Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

For 50 years, ‘The White Album’ has invited its listeners to venture forth and explore the breadth and ambition of its music, delighting and inspiring each new generation in turn

John Kelly/Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

Paul McCartney at Abbey Road Studios

The Beatles’ studio sessions for The Beatles (‘White Album’) began on May 30, 1968 at Abbey Road Studios. In the 20 weeks that followed, The Beatles devoted most of their time to sessions there for the new album, with some recording also done at Trident Studios. The final session for the album took place at Abbey Road on October 16, a 24-hour marathon with producer George Martin to sequence the double album’s four sides and to complete edits and cross-fades between its songs. The Beatles’ approach to recording for ‘The White Album’ was quite different from what they had done for ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ Rather than layering individually overdubbed parts on a multi-track tape, many of the ‘White Album’ session takes were recorded to four-track and eight-track tape as group performances with a live lead vocal

Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

The Mad Day Out Photo Session

St Pancras Old Church, London

Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

Ringo Starr at Abbey Road Studios

The Beatles often recorded take after take for a song, as evidenced by the Super Deluxe set’s Take 102 for “Not Guilty,” a song that was not included on the album. This live-take recording style resulted in a less intricately structured, more unbridled album that would shift the course of rock music and cut a path for punk and indie rock.

Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

The Beatles with George Martin during a recording session at Trident Studios

The Beatles’ newly adopted method of recording all through the night was time consuming and exhausting for their producer, George Martin. Martin had other duties, including his management of AIR (Associated Independent Recording), and he had also composed the orchestral score for The Beatles’ animated feature film, Yellow Submarine, released in July 1968. After the first three months of ‘White Album’ sessions, Martin took a three-week holiday from the studio, entrusting the control room to his young assistant Chris Thomas and balance engineer Ken Scott. On August 22, Ringo Starr also left the sessions, returning 11 days later to find his drum kit adorned with flowers from his bandmates. While the sessions’ four and a half months of long hours and many takes did spark occasional friction in the studio, the session recordings reveal the closeness, camaraderie, and collaborative strengths within the band, as well as with George Martin

Tony Bramwell / © Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

The Mad Day Out Photo Session

The Beatles (‘White Album’) was the first Beatles album to be released on the group’s own Apple Records label. Issued in both stereo and mono for the UK and in stereo for the US, the double album was an immediate bestseller, entering the British chart at number one and remaining there for eight of the 22 weeks it was listed. ‘The White Album’ also debuted at number one on the US chart, holding the top spot for nine weeks of its initial 65-week chart run. In his glowing ‘White Album’ review for Rolling Stone, the magazine’s co-founder Jann Wenner declared: “It is the best album they have ever released, and only The Beatles are capable of making a better one.” In the US, ‘The White Album’ is 19-times platinum-certified by the RIAA and in 2000, it was inducted into the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame, recognizing “recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance.”

Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

Jet & Piston Engine Aeroplane tape, used for the track ‘Back In The U.S.S.R.’

Calderstone Productions Limited

The Beatles’ White Album at 50

Giles Martin at Abbey Road

On 9 November 2018, The Beatles released a suite of lavishly presented ‘White Album’ packages (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe). The album’s 30 tracks are newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo and 5.1 surround audio, joined by 27 early acoustic demos and 50 session takes, most of which are previously unreleased in any form. This is the first time The Beatles (‘White Album’) has been remixed and presented with additional demos and session recordings. “In remixing ‘The White Album,’ we’ve tried to bring you as close as possible to The Beatles in the studio,” explains Giles Martin in his written introduction for the new edition. “We’ve peeled back the layers of the ‘Glass Onion’ with the hope of immersing old and new listeners into one of the most diverse and inspiring albums ever made.”

Alex Lake

“I’m thrilled and honoured to have been entrusted with this remarkable footage. Making the movie will be a sheer joy.”

The news comes on the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ concert atop the Apple Corps offices in London. While there’s no release date for Jackson’s film, sources tell Variety that the documentary could come out next year to mark the 50th anniversary of Let It Be.

Jackson recently released the documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, which featured restored footage of soldiers from the First World War. Jackson also recently co-produced the science-fiction film Mortal Engines, directed by Christian Rivers.

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