Documentary Chronicling Cirque du Soliel's Beatles Show “Love" Debuts
All Together Now, a documentary about the making of the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas show LOVE, made its U.S. debut Monday, opening the sixth annual Silverdocs film festival. As the sound of “Oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper!" blasted in 5.1 stereo, heads bobbed to the nonsensical directive coursing through the AFI's Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Hearing the Beatles' music pumped through the AFI Silver's state-of-the-art surround-sound system would have been enough to keep people entertained, but All Together Now director Adrian Wills also provides lovely visuals and many insightful interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono (the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon, respectively).
“It's not just a Beatles movie -- it's a Beatles and Cirque movie," Wills said. “But you do get exchanges with the Beatles [that you can't see anywhere else]." A lot of that openness came from the access Wills was granted by Cirque du Soleil, which he has worked with as a documentarian for seven years. “We got a lot of freedom," Wills said. “Nobody was policing us. ... I was going in with people I've worked with before, and because of that we were able to get material nobody thought we could get."
LOVE began with an idea Harrison shared with Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, and All Together Now pays tribute to the late guitarist's vision. But it also spotlights the immense contribution of Fab Four producer George Martin, who along with his son Giles, remixed and edited 28 Beatles songs for LOVE.
“This show is George Martin's artistic testimony, in a way," said LOVE director Dominic Champagne. “And that's a great contribution of this movie. It's the soul of the show, but you can't see that onstage. But you see it a lot in the movie."
After three years of negotiations and with a budget of $180 million, director Dominic Champagne has to wrangle an international cast and crew of 500, and an approvals process that includes the founders of Cirque, the Beatles holding company, Apple Corps Ltd., Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison's widow Olivia, and Yoko Ono-one wonders how he didn't have a nervous breakdown.
It's all eventually smoothed over by the magic of the Beatles' brilliant music, masterfully re-imagined by music director and ex-Beatles' producer, the ever-charming Sir George Martin. A peek at a fascinating and nerve-racking creative process as seen on every imaginable level, with fabulous archival footage and spectacular performances-this is one behind-the-scenes story you won't want to miss.
On June 24, 2008 Apple Corps Ltd./Cirque du Soleil will release the feature-length documentary All Together Now on DVD, which will be marketed and distributed worldwide by EMI Music.
All Together Now, a documentary about the making of the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas show LOVE, made its U.S. debut Monday, opening the sixth annual Silverdocs film festival. As the sound of “Oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper!" blasted in 5.1 stereo, heads bobbed to the nonsensical directive coursing through the AFI's Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Hearing the Beatles' music pumped through the AFI Silver's state-of-the-art surround-sound system would have been enough to keep people entertained, but All Together Now director Adrian Wills also provides lovely visuals and many insightful interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono (the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon, respectively).
“It's not just a Beatles movie -- it's a Beatles and Cirque movie," Wills said. “But you do get exchanges with the Beatles [that you can't see anywhere else]." A lot of that openness came from the access Wills was granted by Cirque du Soleil, which he has worked with as a documentarian for seven years. “We got a lot of freedom," Wills said. “Nobody was policing us. ... I was going in with people I've worked with before, and because of that we were able to get material nobody thought we could get."
LOVE began with an idea Harrison shared with Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, and All Together Now pays tribute to the late guitarist's vision. But it also spotlights the immense contribution of Fab Four producer George Martin, who along with his son Giles, remixed and edited 28 Beatles songs for LOVE.
“This show is George Martin's artistic testimony, in a way," said LOVE director Dominic Champagne. “And that's a great contribution of this movie. It's the soul of the show, but you can't see that onstage. But you see it a lot in the movie."
After three years of negotiations and with a budget of $180 million, director Dominic Champagne has to wrangle an international cast and crew of 500, and an approvals process that includes the founders of Cirque, the Beatles holding company, Apple Corps Ltd., Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison's widow Olivia, and Yoko Ono-one wonders how he didn't have a nervous breakdown.
It's all eventually smoothed over by the magic of the Beatles' brilliant music, masterfully re-imagined by music director and ex-Beatles' producer, the ever-charming Sir George Martin. A peek at a fascinating and nerve-racking creative process as seen on every imaginable level, with fabulous archival footage and spectacular performances-this is one behind-the-scenes story you won't want to miss.
On June 24, 2008 Apple Corps Ltd./Cirque du Soleil will release the feature-length documentary All Together Now on DVD, which will be marketed and distributed worldwide by EMI Music.
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