The only authorized documentary of The Beatles’ early years is set to launch at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Director Ron Howard and producers will offer up restored and rare performance footage to see which studio bites.
According to Variety , the still-untitled film will cover the early touring years of The Beatles from 1960 to 1966. Repaired performance footage, as well as rare and never before seen fan footage, has been compiled to create what Howard hopes is a unique perspective on the years that The Beatles and Beatlemania took over the world.
“I am excited and honored to be working with Apple and the White Horse team on this astounding story of these four young men who stormed the world in 1964,” Howard said in Variety .
“Their impact on popular culture and the human experience cannot be exaggerated.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJKh9T22KdQ
The film will cover their performances at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, follow them through their European dates, then on to America and their historic performance on the Ed Sullivan Show . The documentary will culminate in their final performance at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966.
The film has been given a nod of approval by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon, and Olivia Harrison. Howard says the film will not only focus on the live performance footage, but will show the effect that The Beatles had on the world from a cultural and political standpoint, as well.
“What’s so compelling to me is the perspective that we have now, the chance to really understand the impact they had on the world,” Howard said in an interview in Rolling Stone .
The Beatles documentary is slated to be in theaters at the end of 2015. Cannes Film Festival is May 13-24.
[Photo courtesy of Michael Webb/Getty Images]
