Once again, the world is swept up in Beatlemania. With four Beatles biopics coming our way from director Sam Mendes in 2027 and a revamped version of The Beatles Anthology docuseries from the ‘90s available with a Disney+ subscription this month, Beatles hype never seems to die. Not that I am complaining, like millions of others around the world, I’m a huge fan of the Fab Four. After watching Anthology for the first time in years, and being reminded of every stage of the band’s career, I have a few hopes for the biopics.
The Hamburg Years
Far and away, the most intriguing aspect of The Beatles’ career that I want to see a lot of in the movies is from the time they spent honing their craft in the nightclubs of Hamburg. There just isn’t a lot of film footage from the fledgling band in those days, and the stories are incredible. The lifestyle of the port city in post-war Germany was wild and full of artists living on the cheap, and John, Paul, and George (along with early members Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best) were in the thick of it.
These were the days before they started dressing in suits and looking like the famous “mop tops” they would become when they invaded America in 1964. They dressed in leather, with haircuts more like Elvis. They styled themselves more like a biker gang from the 1950s. They smoked cigarettes and looked tough, because they were, after all, working-class blokes from another port city, Liverpool.
Their time in Germany is well documented in books, but this is exactly the kind of thing I’d love to see come alive on the big screen. We don’t have many first-hand photos or videos from that period, and it was an incredibly exciting time for the band.
The Triumph Of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Another crucial moment in The Beatles’ history is the conception and recording of what some (including me) will argue is one of the top five albums of all time. I vividly remember the first time I heard the album when I was 11 years old. It was, to say the least, life-changing. At least in an artistic way. My music tastes immediately evolved and got more mature, and I think I can trace my true love of music to that moment.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was groundbreaking for a myriad of reasons and, like the Hamburg years, marked a pivotal moment in the band’s career. It’s when they realized that, because they weren’t touring anymore, and didn’t have to write and record songs that could be played live, it opened up a whole new artistic avenue. The results speak for themselves.
While other albums are accompanied by extensive real footage of the band in the studio, there isn’t a lot of Pepper, and to see this process play out, the multi-track recordings, the unique instrumentation for rock music, and the bold decision made by all four members, and their producer George Martin, would be inspiring. It was also an interesting moment in history, as “Swinging London” was in full steam. I hope at least one of the movies focuses heavily on this era of The Beatles.
The Final Recording Sessions And Breakup
While 1970’s Let It Be (more on that in a moment) was the final album released by The Beatles, their final recording sessions together were in 1969 for Abbey Road. This was, by at least some accounts (mostly from Paul, Ringo, George Harrison, and George Martin), a much more joyful set of sessions than the often acrimonious sessions for Let It Be. It’s also my second favorite record by the band (behind Pepper).
The Beatles ending their career on a high note like Abbey Road is part of what makes their legend so enduring, and unlike other albums of their later years, very little of the recording was filmed. They were trying to get back to basics after the tumult of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, and it worked, if ever so fleetingly. I don’t want the movies to end on sour notes, and this would be a great way to end in triumph.
I Don’t Want To See The Roof Top Concert Or The Let It Be Sessions
Okay, now for what I’m not interested in. The Get Back/Let It Be sessions. Obviously, this was a pivotal moment in the band’s history, and the story can’t be told without it, but we as Beatles fans have seen so much of the sessions. First, with the 1970 documentary Let It Be from director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and more recently and more thoroughly, with Peter Jackson’s incredible The Beatles: Get Back docuseries.
One thing that often disappoints me with modern biopics is how often we see famous moments in the subject’s life that we already have the real person on film doing. I first noticed this with Will Smith’s Ali. As great as Smith is as the legendary boxer, I’d still rather watch the real Muhammad Ali in interviews than Smith re-creating them for the movie. My thoughts are the same for the Beatles biopics. I don’t need to see the four actors recreating moments we’ve all seen from the first-hand footage of the real musicians.
This goes for the rooftop concert that ends both of those documentaries. I don’t want to see that recreated when I can watch the original, so while I understand all that has to be included, I don’t want, for example, half of one of four movies dedicated to it. Give us a new perspective, something we haven’t seen before, of those moments. That, I think, is what hardcore Beatles fans want.
Either way, I trust Mendes here, and I think he’s going to make four great movies with his bold vision.