Clearly, it is not imagination that will kill Hollywood screenwriters, as evidenced by this new project that continues to shake up this pretty little world: a “biopic” dedicated to the Beatles. Finally, to be more precise, four films shot simultaneously on each of our famous Liverpuldians. In charge? The British Sam Mendes, author of the multi-Oscar winner American Beauty (1999) and two not too badly packaged James Bonds: Heavy rain (2012) et Spectre (2015). Since December 10, we even know who could play Paul McCartney: the rumor is about the Irish actor Paul Mescal. Why not.
It is true that the genre is experiencing a certain revival, since the success of Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), dedicated to the group Queen, or Rocket Man (2019), retracing the life of the very whimsical Elton John. In the end? Blah, blah, and films in between: too scandalous for what they show as wise and too wise for what they present as scandalous, the sexual and opiate escapades of the two singers being singularly watered down. , like the madness that animated them. In the register, we would rather recommend the Ray (2004) by Taylor Hackford, which retraces the extraordinary journey of Ray Charles, or the supercharged The Doors (1991), by Oliver Stone who, there, hid nothing of the dark side of Jim Morrison, the silly and paunchy poet that we know, long fascinated by occultism and Nazism.
The Beatles? They are still the ones who talk about it best!
Therefore, it is difficult to see what new biopic could bring. About the four boys in the wind, everything has been said and written; by the main protagonists what’s more, in their magnificent Anthologya sum published 24 years ago already. As for their early years, those when they roamed the sailors’ bars in Hamburg, everything has been traced in the remarkable Backbeat (1994), by Iain Softley. As for the rest, it was so brief… From the first 45-rpm, Love Me Doreleased in 1962, until the separation in 1970, it will have sold more than 600 million records. And it continues. Their creativity remains unique. It’s a group apart. A historical monument. We don’t know what the two survivors, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, think of the project in question. Certainly, he will be able to fill their respective bank accounts even more, but it is common knowledge that these Fab Two would tend to be sheltered from want.
Parody, more enchanting than reality?
And, simply a textbook hypothesis, if the most famous drummer and bassist on the planet cherished a completely different film that celebrated them, in 1978: The Rutles ? This brilliant pochade, subtitled “ All You Need Is Cash ”, parody of their “ All You Need Is Love », bears the signature of Eric Idle and Neil Innes, of Monty Python. For the occasion, songs were composed “in the style of” not far from matching their models. Better: George Harrison makes a furtive appearance there, just to provide his support for the affair. He must not have had to force himself much, since he quickly became the official producer of this merry band handling a typically English devastating humor.
Better: Mick Jagger intervenes at length in this true-false biopic, lamenting the talent of these damn Rutles without whom his group, the Rolling Stones, could possibly have attempted an international career. There is still Paul Simon, deploring the omnipresence of these same Rutles having prevented him from achieving success with his sidekick, Art Garfunkel!
A model of the genre that pushes the limits far, since it shows the clone of John Lennon who went on a crusade for peace, decked out by his Japanese wife, a larger than life Yoko Ono, never leaving her uniform of… the SS! Note that never the binoclard, author d’Imaginea new song recently mentioned here, was not tried. At the time, we still knew how to laugh.
The film that traumatized the world of hard rock
In the farcesque genre, there are even more beautiful, bigger ones, with the Spinal Tap (1984), by Rob Reiner, filmmaker best known for When Harry Met Sally (1989), his lovely romantic comedy. Spinal Tap? A hard rock group synthesizing all the clichés of the genre: classic-pompous music performed on stage in a Stonehenge-style setting; except that for lack of a substantial budget, the megaliths are as high as Playmobil™, a bassist who makes airport gates ring when having reinforced his calbut with a zucchini wrapped in aluminum foil, the singer’s little girl who is passionate about astrology and who decides the dates tour of the group according to the phases of the Moon. A treat, but which will have traumatized many musicians who felt a little targeted. It is said that the very crazy Ozzy Osbourne, historic singer of Black Sabbath, one of the pioneers of heavy metal, would never have recovered. Neither do we, in fact; but to laugh.
All this to say that a biopic on the Beatles, why not; but that was not necessarily necessary.
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