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The Beatles: Get Back
The Beatles: Get Back is a three-part documentary miniseries directed and produced by Peter Jackson. It covers the making of the Beatles' 1970 album Let It Be (which had the working title of Get Back) and draws largely from unused footage and audio material originally captured for and recycled original footage from the 1970 documentary of the album by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The docuseries has a total runtime of nearly eight hours, consisting of three episodes, each of duration between two and three hours covering about one week each, together covering 21 days of studio time. Jackson considers it a supplement to the original 1970 documentary and not a replacement.
Also co-produced by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the series is presented by Walt Disney Studios in association with Apple Corps and WingNut Films. It premiered with three consecutive daily releases on Disney+ beginning on 25 November 2021. A portion of it, titled The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert, was given a theatrical release in IMAX theatres across numerous US cities on 30 January 2022. It was then released internationally between 11 and 13 February 2022, and on DVD and Blu-ray on 12 July 2022.
Characterised by Jackson as "a documentary about a documentary", The Beatles: Get Back received critical acclaim for its coverage of the group's creative process, although some criticized the relatively long runtime, and the series' use of "de-noising" and digital smoothing effects. Commentators described it as challenging longtime beliefs that the making of the Let It Be album was marked entirely by tensions between the Beatles, instead showing a more upbeat side to its production.
While visiting Apple Corps to discuss working on a potential Beatles exhibition featuring augmented or virtual reality, Peter Jackson asked Apple about the archival footage for the 1970 documentary of the album, which he was allowed access to for a potential new documentary. Jackson was hesitant to sign onto the project because of his fears about the long-reported acrimony surrounding the Beatles breakup. Upon viewing the footage, he later stated, he "was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth ... Sure, there's moments of drama – but none of the discord this project has long been associated with." Sixty hours of film footage, shot in January 1969, and over 150 hours of audio stemming from the original Let It Be film were made available to Jackson's team.
Production of The Beatles: Get Back employed film restoration techniques developed for Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old. His production company WingNut Films also utilised its audio restoration technology to isolate recordings of instruments, vocals, and individual conversations onto separate audio tracks. The neural network was called MAL (machine-assisted learning), named after the Beatles' former road manager Mal Evans, and as a pun to HAL 9000 of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Jackson spent close to four years editing the series. It was created with cooperation from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison – widows of John Lennon and George Harrison respectively – as well as music supervisor Giles Martin, son of producer George Martin and a regular producer of Beatles projects since 2006. In a news release, McCartney said he was "really happy that Peter has delved into our archives to make a film that shows the truth about the Beatles recording together." with Starr saying that there was "hours and hours of us just laughing and playing music, not at all like the Let It Be film that came out [in 1970]. There was a lot of joy and I think Peter will show that."
Disney was persuaded by the filmmakers to allow for the inclusion of profanity, with viewer discretion warnings at the start of each episode. According to Jackson: "The Beatles are Scouse boys and they freely swear but not in an aggressive or sexual way. We got Disney to agree to have swearing, which I think is the first time for a Disney channel." Episodes also contain viewer discretion warnings for tobacco use. As a result, the theatrical release of The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert received a PG-13 rating by the MPA for "brief strong language, and smoking".
The final cut covers 21 days in the studio with the Beatles as they rehearse for a forthcoming album, concert and film project, and climaxes with the full 42-minute rooftop concert. Jackson described the series as "a documentary about a documentary", as well as a "tougher" one than Let It Be, since it includes controversial events such as Harrison's brief resignation from the band, which the original film had not covered. With the exception of specific shots where no alternative exists, most of the material that had been featured in Let It Be was not reused in Get Back, and the series primarily used footage captured from alternative camera angles in the case of sequences shared between the two works. According to Jackson, this choice was made out of a desire to "not step on Let It Be's toes so that it is still a film that has a reason to exist, and our [series] will be a supplement to it".
Ben Sisario of The New York Times emphasises opening scenes of the series from January 1969, with McCartney creating the song "Get Back" "out of nothing" while awaiting Lennon who was running late. In his review, Sisario further posits that: Lennon's only aim in the Get Back project was "communication with an audience", McCartney asked the band to "show enthusiasm for the project or abandon it", Harrison openly contemplated "a divorce" (of the band), while the whole band were uncomfortable about Ono's presence at the sessions. However, the last statement is opposed by Andy Welch of The Guardian in his review of the documentary, who remarks: "Yoko didn't break up the Beatles. Blaming it on her was always an absurd, lazy accusation". In other candid scenes, Starr offers Ono a piece of gum, Linda McCartney and Ono whisper as the band plays "Let It Be", Harrison impresses the band with a Bob Dylan cover, McCartney covers "Strawberry Fields Forever" with Lennon's approval, and McCartney defends Ono while grieving for the band's end.
The Beatles: Get Back
The Beatles: Get Back is a three-part documentary miniseries directed and produced by Peter Jackson. It covers the making of the Beatles' 1970 album Let It Be (which had the working title of Get Back) and draws largely from unused footage and audio material originally captured for and recycled original footage from the 1970 documentary of the album by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The docuseries has a total runtime of nearly eight hours, consisting of three episodes, each of duration between two and three hours covering about one week each, together covering 21 days of studio time. Jackson considers it a supplement to the original 1970 documentary and not a replacement.
Also co-produced by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the series is presented by Walt Disney Studios in association with Apple Corps and WingNut Films. It premiered with three consecutive daily releases on Disney+ beginning on 25 November 2021. A portion of it, titled The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert, was given a theatrical release in IMAX theatres across numerous US cities on 30 January 2022. It was then released internationally between 11 and 13 February 2022, and on DVD and Blu-ray on 12 July 2022.
Characterised by Jackson as "a documentary about a documentary", The Beatles: Get Back received critical acclaim for its coverage of the group's creative process, although some criticized the relatively long runtime, and the series' use of "de-noising" and digital smoothing effects. Commentators described it as challenging longtime beliefs that the making of the Let It Be album was marked entirely by tensions between the Beatles, instead showing a more upbeat side to its production.
While visiting Apple Corps to discuss working on a potential Beatles exhibition featuring augmented or virtual reality, Peter Jackson asked Apple about the archival footage for the 1970 documentary of the album, which he was allowed access to for a potential new documentary. Jackson was hesitant to sign onto the project because of his fears about the long-reported acrimony surrounding the Beatles breakup. Upon viewing the footage, he later stated, he "was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth ... Sure, there's moments of drama – but none of the discord this project has long been associated with." Sixty hours of film footage, shot in January 1969, and over 150 hours of audio stemming from the original Let It Be film were made available to Jackson's team.
Production of The Beatles: Get Back employed film restoration techniques developed for Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old. His production company WingNut Films also utilised its audio restoration technology to isolate recordings of instruments, vocals, and individual conversations onto separate audio tracks. The neural network was called MAL (machine-assisted learning), named after the Beatles' former road manager Mal Evans, and as a pun to HAL 9000 of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Jackson spent close to four years editing the series. It was created with cooperation from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison – widows of John Lennon and George Harrison respectively – as well as music supervisor Giles Martin, son of producer George Martin and a regular producer of Beatles projects since 2006. In a news release, McCartney said he was "really happy that Peter has delved into our archives to make a film that shows the truth about the Beatles recording together." with Starr saying that there was "hours and hours of us just laughing and playing music, not at all like the Let It Be film that came out [in 1970]. There was a lot of joy and I think Peter will show that."
Disney was persuaded by the filmmakers to allow for the inclusion of profanity, with viewer discretion warnings at the start of each episode. According to Jackson: "The Beatles are Scouse boys and they freely swear but not in an aggressive or sexual way. We got Disney to agree to have swearing, which I think is the first time for a Disney channel." Episodes also contain viewer discretion warnings for tobacco use. As a result, the theatrical release of The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert received a PG-13 rating by the MPA for "brief strong language, and smoking".
The final cut covers 21 days in the studio with the Beatles as they rehearse for a forthcoming album, concert and film project, and climaxes with the full 42-minute rooftop concert. Jackson described the series as "a documentary about a documentary", as well as a "tougher" one than Let It Be, since it includes controversial events such as Harrison's brief resignation from the band, which the original film had not covered. With the exception of specific shots where no alternative exists, most of the material that had been featured in Let It Be was not reused in Get Back, and the series primarily used footage captured from alternative camera angles in the case of sequences shared between the two works. According to Jackson, this choice was made out of a desire to "not step on Let It Be's toes so that it is still a film that has a reason to exist, and our [series] will be a supplement to it".
Ben Sisario of The New York Times emphasises opening scenes of the series from January 1969, with McCartney creating the song "Get Back" "out of nothing" while awaiting Lennon who was running late. In his review, Sisario further posits that: Lennon's only aim in the Get Back project was "communication with an audience", McCartney asked the band to "show enthusiasm for the project or abandon it", Harrison openly contemplated "a divorce" (of the band), while the whole band were uncomfortable about Ono's presence at the sessions. However, the last statement is opposed by Andy Welch of The Guardian in his review of the documentary, who remarks: "Yoko didn't break up the Beatles. Blaming it on her was always an absurd, lazy accusation". In other candid scenes, Starr offers Ono a piece of gum, Linda McCartney and Ono whisper as the band plays "Let It Be", Harrison impresses the band with a Bob Dylan cover, McCartney covers "Strawberry Fields Forever" with Lennon's approval, and McCartney defends Ono while grieving for the band's end.