In The Return, Peter Jackson discovers the secrets the Beatles tried to hide 50 years ago | TV and series

The strategy worked for 50 years. with the Premiere of the documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back” on Thursday (25)Director Peter Jackson promises to bring some of the most private and intimate moments in the studio tested by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

The proud filmmaker, known for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, says in a conversation with g 1. Watch the video above.

“They sing songs, of course, but that’s not the story. It was told in the conversations they had. A lot of it, which you hear on ‘Get Back’, is so personal and so intimate, they had no idea that, 50 years later, we’d be able to Turn off the guitar and hear these things.”

to reach Approximately 8 hours of the three episodes of the series, which was released individually daily until Saturday (27), the director faced a long battle Four years of editing and restoring the original material Someone else picked it up, of course.

After all, the 60-year-old Ziolan was only seven years old at the time of the shooting, which was filmed over a 22-day period in January 1969 by Michael Lindsey Hogg for the documentary “Let it be” (1970) during the popular Get Sessions. back.

After the original film was not well received by critics at the time, who considered it a grief associated with the band’s demise, the production became difficult to find. and almost 60 hours of photos and 130 hours of audio It was produced by the team and locked in a safe belonging to the company founded by the Apple group.

They feature plans to make a live album on a televised show, complaints about the first facilities chosen to train, write some of their greatest hits, drop the original project, the band’s last legendary performance, and even the departure – and eventual return – of Harrison from the group.

A huge fan of the Fab Four, Jackson was selected to recover raw materials after his work on the WWI documentary They Will Never Get Old (2018).

In the exclusive interview in Brazil, the director spoke about the challenges of production, the similarities between the project and its adaptations to JRR Tolkien’s books, the surprising moments found in the recordings and The artificial intelligence technology that allowed the discovery of the secret conversations of the Beatles.

G1 – You have access to dozens and dozens of hours of raw recordings. For you personally, Sir Peter Jackson, what is the most challenging aspect of this project?

Peter Jackson – I think, frankly, the most challenging aspect was the sheer amount of material. I mean, it’s hard looking at 60 hours of recording and 130 hours of audio.

Because normally, when I shoot a movie, we shoot a lot, but we follow the script. Everything is organized. This is scene 27. This is the scenario. This is what the actors are talking about.

In this, we had all this material that had no text. just there. ‘My God. First we have to watch everything. Then we might have to watch it again. And then we can start thinking about what to do with it.

The editing alone took four years. Jabez Olsen and I. And we literally can’t do that in two or three years. There were four because that’s what it takes to edit this one out. I haven’t edited any movies for a long time. Because that’s how long it took.

But what was helpful, both times, was to understand that the way to do it, in my opinion, was just to tell the daily story of the “return” sessions.

Michael Lindsay-Hogg was with them for 22 days in January 1969. They had a plan to do a live show, with a live recording, and he was filming. The plan went wrong, and things happened, but he’s been scoring 22 days ago.

So I thought I’d tell the story day by day, so we can live like the Beatles do.

You have made the decision not to do the current interviews. I don’t want to interview Paul or Ringo or Michael or (sound engineer) Glyn Johns right now. I just wanted to go back to 1969 and take this trip with them.

So when I made that decision, I thought, “Jabees and I are going to spend a month adjusting the first. We won’t even worry about the rest. Then let’s go ahead and adjust the second day.”

So, we kind of did it, and the result was an 18 hour movie. So I thought, ‘Okay, we’re 22 days and 18 hours. So now we have to go every day and take a shortcut. Because 18 hours, as far as I’m impressed, is a very long time. (Laughter)

G1 – That was my next question. When I saw the preview available to the press, I felt like watching the whole 22 days. As a fan, how do you decide what is important to the story you want to tell?

Peter Jackson – I should have had two characters. I had to work as a responsible storyteller. I wanted anyone who wasn’t interested in the Beatles to be able to watch this and participate and would go on that journey with the band.

Because what happens in Get Back sessions is that they plan things and get it wrong and need to catch up and come up with a new plan. It has many ups and downs. It’s almost as if you’ve written a script.

So I wanted to do it, but at the same time, as a Beatles fan, I wanted to put all the cool stuff out there.

When I looked at things, I thought, “That’s cool, and if we don’t put it in the movie, it’s going to go back to the Apple vault and it might take another 50 years before anyone sees it.”

Right, that’s what I was thinking. Because I do not know. ‘This is good. I’m a fan of the Beatles. I love that. And every other fan in the world should see it. So this goes to the movie.

I was balancing out the Beatles fans, putting everything into it, with my responsibility to tell a story and not repeat it too often. I do not know. I hope you did.

G1 – Did your experience in “The Lord of the Rings” help you with this project? Because you’re also a fan of the book, but a lot didn’t appear in the movies, and you had to edit and choose a lot, and act more like a storyteller than a fan. Did that help?

Peter Jackson – Well, it helps, but they are clearly very different things. One was a book, and it had a script, and the other was a documentary that I didn’t record. I mean, I recorded the song “Lord of the Rings” but I didn’t record this. Recorded by Michael Lindsey Hogg.

In some ways they are very different. But the similarity is that I like both. It makes a big difference if you’re working on a project you love.

I’ve been going there every day with Gabes for four years to free him, never tired, never bored, and never wished I could do anything else. I loved every day. But that’s only because I love the Beatles. Just as I love Tolkien.

If there is any similarity, I am very happy that I am going through my career and doing the things I love. This is really cool.

G1 – While watching the preview, I was touched by a moment when they were rehearsing the song “Don’t Let Me Down” and wondered if they were actually writing the song.

Peter Jackson – Yes Yes.

G1 – How many moments of this type are in the series?

Peter Jackson – Dozens of them. Don’t think of it as the “Let it be” recording industry. Don’t think like that. Most of the songs on this record come from “Get Back” sessions.

There are 17 lanes on Abbey Road. 12 of them came from these sessions. Then you will see songs from “Abbey Road”.

John Lennon sings “Give Me Some Truth”. We’ve got The Beatles, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon writing this song. I didn’t even know that. It is registered in John’s Register.

“All things have to pass,” “Another day,” “The back seat of my car,” “Isn’t that a pity.” All singles. You have dozens and dozens of songs and you see a lot of them being created and mastered.

That way, if that’s what you like – and I agree with you, I love it too – there is a lot of great stuff.

G1 – Since the restoration began four years ago, technology has evolved. I have developed techniques for this restoration. Did you ever manage to find out because of this technology?

Peter Jackson – In fact, the answer to this lies in the sound. We got the movie back, it was great, but regardless of the sound.

When this was filmed in 1969, a lot was recorded on the rehearsal stage. It was not written on the 8-track cartridge. They were just training. They weren’t recording the rehearsal. Then the film crew picked up the sound. It was a single tape.

So, there is no mixing and balances and all that. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was filming and recording. He wanted to have private, intimate conversations, and the Beatles realized what he was up to.

And there is a kind of war between Michael and the Beatles, in which they try to outsmart him, he tries to overcome them. He tries to hide microphones everywhere, and they are paranoid about recording.

John and George are the ones who do the most. If the four of them are sitting talking, and they don’t want Michael’s mics to be recorded, they turn up the speakers very loudly, and play their guitars.

So they talk, but in the bar you hear only noise. You see but you cannot hear. This is a shame. They have a private conversation.

But what we’ve done with technology, with machine learning, is we teach the computer what the guitar looks like and then we tell it to shake the guitar. “Just get rid of it.”

And all this is done using artificial intelligence on a computer. Now we hear the conversations. The guitar is gone.

They muted the conversation in 1969 and we got smarter in 2021 and we got all these conversations going.

In much of the movie, the movie’s story is told in conversations. They obviously sing songs, but that’s not the story. It is said in the conversations that they conducted. A lot of them, which you hear on “Get Back,” are so personal and intimate, that they had no idea that, 50 years later, we’d be able to turn off the guitar and hear this stuff.