Disney wanted to drop expletives from documentary, smoking; Beatles refused: Director
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“Paul McCartney describes it as being very raw. He said to me: ‘That is a very accurate portrayal of how we were then.’ Ringo Starr said: ‘It’s truthful.’ The truthfulness of it is important to them. They don’t want a whitewash," director Peter Jackson revealed in an interview.
Can you imagine The Beatles NOT being there absolute authentic selves for anyone? Never!
But, the platform that has released a new documentary on their life and legacy wanted the director, Peter Jackson, to do away with all the swearing and smoking.
The British rock group has officially joined forces with director Peter Jackson to release their much-anticipated musical documentary, 'Get Back', that is now available for viewing on Disney+.
Reportedly, the project involves many scenes that sees the band smoking and mouthing expletives, which Disney wanted to be dropped. However, the band refused to do that.
The three-part docu show includes a disclaimer from the streaming service at the beginning of each episode that says, “This footage contains explicit language, mature themes and smoking.”
In a recent interview with a global media outlet, the 'Lord of the Rings' director explained that Beatles members Paul McCartney, 79, and Ringo Starr, 81, refused to drop the cuss words from the final cut.
“Paul (McCartney) describes it as being very raw. He said to me: ‘That is a very accurate portrayal of how we were then.’ Ringo [Starr] said: ‘It’s truthful.’ The truthfulness of it is important to them. They don’t want a whitewash," Jackson said.
“They don’t want it to be sanitized. Disney wanted to remove all the swearing and Ringo, Paul, and Olivia [Harrison] said ‘That’s how we spoke. That’s how we talked. That’s how we want the world to see us.’ When [McCartney and Starr] got to see the finished thing, I was expecting notes. It would’ve just been normal to get a note saying: ‘Oh, that bit where I say that — could you cut that out?’ Or ‘Could you shorten the conversation there?’ And I didn’t get a single note,” he continued.
Jackson also noted that the band did not want to change anything about their portrayal. “Not one request to do anything. One of them said that they watched it and found it one of the most stressful experiences of their entire life. ‘But I’m not gonna give you any notes.’”
About the long runtime of each of the episodes, Jackson said, “I’d like to say that I didn’t really leave out anything that I thought was important … which is why the duration has crept up to what it is today.”
Since he did not want to leave out the important footages, he kept the episodes long. “I felt acutely — and this is the Beatles fan part of me kicking in — anything I don’t include in this movie might go back in the vault for another 50 years. I was seeing and hearing these amazing moments. I thought: ‘God, people have got to see this. This is great. They have to see this,'” Jackson concluded.
'Get Back' showcases the band’s songwriting and singing processes, as well as the hardships they had to overcome both as friends and bandmates. The never-before-seen footages also capture the legendary band's January 1969 recording session and final live London show on the rooftop of Apple Corps headquarters on Savile Row.