The Beatles’ forthcoming film “Get Back” — a Peter Jackson-directed documentary culled from the footage from the 1970 “Let It Be” film — will premiere as a Disney Plus original documentary series over the Thanksgiving holidays.
Because of the wealth of tremendous footage Jackson has reviewed, which he has spent the past three years restoring and editing, “The Beatles: Get Back” will be presented as three separate episodes. Each episode is approximately two hours in length, rolling out over three days, November 25, 26 and 27, 2021, exclusively on Disney Plus.
The film, snippets of which were previewed during a Universal Music Group presentation last year as well as a “montage” debuted online, is culled from more than 50 hours of footage taped in January of 1969 as the Beatles worked on material that ultimately became the “Let It Be” album and feature-length film. Based on the previewed footage, “Get Back” will present a counter-narrative to “Let It Be,” which effectively documented the Beatles breaking up; the group would record their last song together just eight months later. Where “Let It Be” tends to be a bit morose — the film is currently out of circulation and surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison have seemed reluctant to revisit it — “Get Back” appears to be classic moptops, with lots of humor, affection and camaraderie.
The most recent previous project by Jackson, who is best known for his epic series of “Lord of the Rings” films, was “They Shall Not Grow Old,” a fascinating World War I documentary built around meticulously restored 100-year-old footage. He has turned some of that technological wizardry to the 50-year-old “Let It Be” footage, with vivid results.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety