The Beatles: Get Back, Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary, will premiere as a series on Disney+.
Now spanning six hours, the doc series will release on the streaming service over three days — November 25, 26, and 27.
The four-minute teaser shows January 1969 footage and features the band in the midst of rehearsing and recording Let It Be, and spotlights the band at Twickenham Film Studio, their Apple basement studios, and eventually the Apple Rooftop where they gave their final performance on January 30th, 1969.
The official description shares:
The Beatles: Get Back takes audiences back in time to the band’s January 1969 recording sessions, which became a pivotal moment in music history. The docuseries showcases The Beatles’ creative process as they attempt to write 14 new songs in preparation for their first live concert in over two years. Faced with a nearly impossible deadline, the strong bonds of friendship shared by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr are put to the test.
The docuseries is compiled from nearly 60 hours of unseen footage shot over 21 days, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969, and from more than 150 hours of unheard audio, most of which has been locked in a vault for over half a century. Jackson is the only person in 50 years to have been given access to this Beatles treasure trove, all of which has now been brilliantly restored. What emerges is an unbelievably intimate portrait of The Beatles, showing how, with their backs against the wall, they could still rely on their friendship, good humor, and creative genius.
“We wanted to give the fans of The Beatles all over the world a holiday treat, so we put together this five-minute sneak peek at our upcoming theatrical film The Beatles: Get Back,” Jackson said in a press release. “We hope it will bring a smile to everyone’s faces and some much-needed joy at this difficult time.”
The Beatles: Get Back contains 56 hours of never-before-seen footage of the iconic and beloved British rock band. The footage was first filmed in 1969 by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg for a TV special. Unfortunately, that never panned out, so Jackson has finished up the job.
The film also features—for the first time in its entirety—The Beatles’ last live performance as a group.
Michael Lindsey-Hogg, the director of the Beatles’ Let It Be film and all the outtakes mined for the Get Back miniseries, said he is amazed with what the new footage looks and sounds like, “I’m really happy and I’ve seen bits of what Peter’s done. And first of all — technically, it’s fabulous. So, the images look like they were shot yesterday, but also Peter’s got wonderful sound equipment over there. One of the problems when we shot it 50 years ago was that musicians have this annoying habit of when they’re talking to you — if they’re not rehearsing a song — of, sort of, noodling on a guitar. Someone might be saying something really interesting, but then there would be a (imitates guitar squawk) on the guitar. What Peter’s done is, he’s got equipment over there which has been able to separate tracks.”
Also published this week is The Beatles: Get Back book. The book has author credit going to the Beatles, with John Harris serving as the book’s editor; Ethan Russell and the late-Linda McCartney as photographers; Hanif Kureishi penning the introduction; and director Peter Jackson — who is directing the upcoming Beatles doc on the 1969 rehearsals and sessions — supplying the book’s foreword. The massive tome, which coincides with Jackson’s film utilizing outtakes from Let It Be, weighs in at 4.6 pounds.
