Mark Waters, director of Mean Girls, Freaky Friday, and The Spiderwick Chronicles, is currently in line to helm Get Back, a comedy about two diehard Beatles fans who discover a time machine and use it to travel back in time to change a major event in John Lennon‘s life.
What do they plan to do in Get Back, which is named for the popular Beatles tune that closes out their final album Let It Be? No, not to stop his murder, that would be too logical. Instead, it’s to prevent the musician from ever meeting his wife Yoko Ono, who they feel was the cause of the breakup of the Beatles.
As this is planned as a comedy, I can see where there would be plenty of opportunity for laughs, especially when you have die-hard music fans and time-travel involved. But, I’m seriously hating the premise of this movie, which was scripted by Chris McCoy and was named as one of the best unproduced screenplays on the 2007 Black List.
It’s been 40 years since the Fab Four parted ways and Ono was scapegoated as the cause, so is this premise really relevant with today’s audiences? Besides the fact that Ono was not truly to blame and there had been tension amongst the band members long before Ono entered the picture.
Then there’s the fact that the premise is all about preventing Lennon from meeting the love of his life, someone who was his partner and muse. Taking her out of the equation means we wouldn’t have his amazing solo records, not to mention he wouldn’t have had his son Sean, whom he adored and for whom he spent five years as a stay-at-home father.
This story, as is, just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. We only know this tiny bit about the movie, so hopefully the story progresses into one where where these fans realize Ono’s integral role in Lennon’s life and change their initial plans.
Also, there’s the issue of John Lennon’s likeness, which Ono has the rights to, and with a premise like this, I doubt she’d give permission. But, there’s an easy way around this — don’t show a John Lennon character in the film at all. The film could really be more about these two fans and their time-travel hijinks (Bill and Ted anyone?), so perhaps they spend the entire time trying to find Lennon, only getting glimpses of him from a far. But even so, Ono has sued to protect her late husband’s image before, so it would not be surprising if she stepped in to prevent this film from being made.
What do you think so far of the premise of Get Back?
[Source: Variety via /Film]
Oh dear, this just makes me sad…
Let’s hope she’ll sue their asses off! XD
Comment by Haldered — January 29, 2011 @ 11:24 am
Presumably, the issues you raise will be the same realizations the time-traveling characters have in the third act of the movie.
Comment by Derek Langille — January 29, 2011 @ 1:34 pm
“Two clueless, semi-racist assholes go back in time to prevent one of their favorite musicians from meeting the love of his life.” Sounds garbagey.
Comment by Tom — January 29, 2011 @ 4:11 pm
what the hell is the 2007 Black List?
can someone explain that to me?
Comment by Devon — January 29, 2011 @ 5:56 pm
yeah, I’m gonna have to be on Team Yoko for this.
Comment by Captain Karl — January 29, 2011 @ 7:33 pm
The Black List is put out every year to people in the movie business and it’s a list of the best unproduced screenplays. It’s put together by film executives and the like based on their favorite scripts. The scripts are from movies that won’t be released in that same year. I guess it’s kind of like a ‘what to watch for’ type of list.
Comment by Empress Eve — January 29, 2011 @ 7:38 pm
Will he go back to the famous no show booking saga?
Young 19 yr old promoter booked Rolling Stones for ‘dance’ gig for $80 for a church all! Place was packed, so he booked Beatles.
They never appeared!
Town said no. Rolling stones yes please. Beatles, no thank you. Nobody would hire him a hall !
Now that one-off saga is the basis of a fact to fiction novel now available in America. It tells the full story, other insider info on 60s music in England, it has romance, blackmail, abuse, intrigue, and the hit records.
All in TEAR MY HEART which itself of course is a great song.
Comment by bluestars — January 31, 2011 @ 7:14 am
OR, OR, OR MAYBE if you used your brain for half a second maybe it will be their misguided attempt to break up John and Ono ONLY TO REALIZE EVERYTHING YOU’RE COMPLAINING ABOUT! WHOA! It’s a comedy, you know? Somewhat light affairs that are funny but sometimes have some climactic event which alters the characters’ story arcs to come to a usually happy conclusion.
It would honestly be really nice if you could just report on a story and leave out the overly sensitive opinion, especially one that seems rather misguided and assuming. I’m guessing Ono ok’d the rights for Lennon’s likeness to show up in “Walk Hard” so it’s possible the woman actually has a sense of humor, and since it probably ISN’T going to be an attack on her relationship with him, she might actually okay this.
Comment by wow — January 31, 2011 @ 6:41 pm