The Beatles: Get Back - Disney Plus release date of ‘Let It Be’ sessions documentary series by Peter Jackson

Director Peter Jackson had to convince Disney to break its non-swearing rule for the new documentary, which charts the band writing songs for Let It Be
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George Harrison would have been “very happy” that relationships between Beatles’ members are cast in a more positive light by a new documentary, his son has said.

Dhani Harrison said his father had always been “bummed out” that this part of the world-famous rock band’s history was associated with negativity.

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The Beatles: Get Back is released on Disney+ from today (25 November).

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What is The Beatles: Get Back?

His name may be instantly synonymous with Lord Of The Rings, but filmmaker Peter Jackson has found himself tackling an altogether different project two decades on with The Beatles: Get Back.

Jackson was approached by Apple Corps, who manage the Beatles legacy, asking if he was interested in reviewing hours of footage and twice as much audio, which had been recorded in January 1969, with a view to making it into a film.

The film aims to provide an honest insight into the relationship between the men and their creative process during the recording sessions.

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Initially intended to be for the cinema, The Beatles: Get Back turned into three two-hour long films for Disney+, which the filmmaker attributed to the pandemic.

“The cinemas were closed and I had nothing to do but to keep editing,” Jackson said. “I kept finding new stuff and new ways to tell the story. It ended up being six hours.”

Made entirely from never-before-seen footage, Jackson spent years cutting more than 57 hours of footage down; Dhani Harrison, who was involved in the creation of the documentary, said Jackson had “really delivered”.

“[My father] was always bummed out that this was portrayed in bad light and they were always a bit sad about it and that’s why Peter has been given such a big crack at it,” he told the PA news agency.

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“Sure, there were arguments, but what you’re going to see is way more of just a band squabbling, and it’s nice.

“[The documentary] creates a new dynamic, and anyone who gets to see the whole thing will see that the behaviour changes and they really come together.”

How in-depth is it?

Like Jackson’s previous documentary effort They Shall Not Grow Old - which restored World War I-era footage and audio with amazing effect - The Beatles: Get Back uses technology to remaster archive materials.

The director explained: “What John [Lennon] and George [Harrison] used to do is, if they were in conversation, they would turn their amps up loud.

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“They’d strum the guitar – they’d just be strumming, not playing anything, no tune – so all {the original filmmaker’s] microphones were recording was this loud guitar.

“What we’ve been able to do with computer technology and artificial intelligence-based technology is we’ve been able to strip the guitars off now and expose the private conversations that they had.

“A lot of our movie features private conversations that they tried to disguise.”

When can I watch it?

The Beatles: Get Back will be released in three two-hour parts on Disney+ on 25, 25 and 27 November.

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Jackson had to convince Disney to break its non-swearing rule for the new documentary, he revealed.

“We’ve had to have a discussion with Disney about the swearing. The Beatles are scouse boys and they freely swear but not in an aggressive or sexual way,” he told the Radio Times.

“We got Disney to agree to have swearing, which I think is the first time for a Disney channel. That makes them feel modern, too.”

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