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John Lennon Biopic Trailer Released

Sara Harowitz — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:12 +0000

Imagine all the stories…

A preview for the upcoming film about the Beatles’ John Lennon has been released, reports NME.com. The film, entitled “Nowhere boy,” is about Lennon’s childhood and adolescence. It features Kristin Scott Thomas and screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh.

The film is based on the book, “Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon” by Lennon’s half sister Julia Baird. The movie is also said to feature music from Goldfrapp.

“Nowhere boy” premieres tonight (Oct. 29) as part of the London Film Festival’s closing night. It has a general release date in the United Kingdom slated for Dec. 26.

The movie is directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, and was filmed in Lennon’s childhood city of Liverpool, according to rollingstone.com. It stars British actor Aaron Johnson as Lennon.

“Nowhere boy” will also show the teenage Lennon meeting future bandmate Paul McCartney – played in the movie by Thomas Sangster – for the first time. The two men would later become band mates in the Quarrymen, which paved the way for one of the most popular bands of all time.

But as Rolling Stone points out, the film is less about the development of the Beatles, and more about the relationships between Lennon and his mother and aunt. His mother, Julia, died in a 1958 car crash when she was 44; Lennon was only 17.

It is still unclear whether the film picked up the rights to use the Beatles’ music in the film, and the trailer does not offer any insight. The film so far does not have a North American release date. Rolling Stone had previously reported that the Weinstein Company had received the distribution rights for “Nowhere boy,” but it is not on their current schedule.

John Lennon Biopic Packed With More Stars Than Just a Beatle

Emma Renda — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:33:49 +0000

For a generation of people who missed out on the 1960s and the advent of rock’n'roll, we sure are getting to be well-versed. Yet another biopic is slated for release this October, this time in the name of John Lennon.

Nowhere Boy is based on the book Imagine This: Growing Up with my Brother John Lennon by Lennon’s half sister Julia Baird, according to Pitchfork. The screenplay was written by Matt Greenhalgh, author of the Joy Division film Control. The film will focus more on Baird’s experience growing up with the rising star, perhaps offering a unique insight into what transformed Lennon into one of the most idyllic artists of our time.

On board to direct in his feature film debut is Sam Taylor Wood, whose repertoire includes the BAFTA-nominated punk short Love You More.

The cast includes Kristin Scott Thomas, (The English Patient and Four Weddings and a Funeral), will play Lennon’s aunt, who raised Lennon, as well as Anne Marie Duff (Shameless, also James McAvoy’s wife) and Aaron Johnson (who plays the heartthrob in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging).

The obvious next question: What about the soundtrack? So far, Goldfrapp has been enlisted to compose the score and will record it at Abbey Road Studios. The film will close the London Film Festival in late October.

John Lennon Biopic Gets Director

Eva Lam — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:10:46 +0000

Visual artist Sam Taylor-Wood will bring the story of John Lennon’s early years to the big screen.

Taylor-Wood has signed on to direct the biopic “Nowhere Boy,” which will focus on the Beatle’s childhood and the influence his mother and aunt had on his subsequent career.

As previously announced, the movie is being scripted by Matt Greenhalgh, the same screenwriter behind the 2007 Ian Curtis biopic “Control.”

Casting for the major roles is underway, according to producer Ecosse Films.

Taylor-Wood, who will be making her feature directorial debut, is known for her contemporary art in video, photography and film. Her debut short “Love You More” was nominated for the short-film Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The artist-turned-director told ScreenDaily.com that “Nowhere Boy” was the film she had been looking to direct following her short.

“The story spoke to me on so many levels — both personal and artistic,” she said.

“The women in John’s early life truly shaped who he became and the strengths and weaknesses of their relationships are central to this film.”

The movie will begin shooting March 2009 in Lennon’s home city of Liverpool.

John Lennon Biopic In The Works

Eva Lam — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:43:23 +0000

The early life of ex-Beatle John Lennon will be turned into a movie based on a controversial book by his half-sister.

Plans for the film “Nowhere Boy” were set into motion Thursday after it was awarded funding by the U.K. Film Council.

Matt Greenhalgh, who wrote the critically acclaimed Ian Curtis biopic “Control,” will pen the script based on “Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon” by Lennon’s half-sister Julia Baird.

Released in 2007, the book attracted controversy because of Baird’s portrayal of Mary (Mimi) Smith, the aunt who raised Lennon from the age of four, as a woman who was extremely jealous of her younger sister, Lennon and Baird’s mother.

Scriptwriter Greenhalgh told BBC News that the book took him “into a world that illuminated so much about this legendary genius. I could see the drama and film immediately – the women in his life, the men who weren’t, the birth of rock and roll, all imposing on a brilliantly complicated adolescent mind.”

He added, “Without this story we would never have heard The Beatles. Can you imagine that?”

It won’t be Greenhalgh’s first time adapting a book to film — he wrote “Control” based on “Touching From A Distance,” written by Curtis’ wife Debbie.

Canadian Selling John Lennon Lyrics

andPOP Staff — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:58:59 +0000

A Canadian is auctioning off his hand written copy of the lyrics to “Give Peace a Chance,” written by John Lennon himself.

The Globe and Mail reports that Gail Renard, a 55-year-old originally from Montreal, got the lyrics during Lennon’s bed-in for peace in 1969 at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth hotel.

Renard, then 16, snuck into the bed-in, where she says Lennon immediately took a liking to her and gave her the lyrics himself.

The lyrics will go on auction on July 10 and are expected to sell for close to half of a million dollars

Yoko Ono Wants Anniversary of Lennon’s Death To Be Day of Forgiveness

andPOP Staff — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 13:09:29 +0000

Yoko Ono can’t forgive but she has no problem telling everybody else to.

Beatle John Lennon was murdered 26 years ago on Dec. 8, and Ono now wants the anniversary of her husband’s death to become a worldwide day of forgiveness.

Taking out full-page newspaper advertisements, Ono said, “Every year, let’s make December 8 the day to ask for forgiveness from those who suffered the insufferable

“To the people who have also lost loved ones without cause: forgive us for having been unable to stop the tragedy,” she continued.

Ono went on to thank well-wishers who write her every year on the anniversary of Lennon’sdeath but goes on to say that “As the widow of one who was killed by an act of violence, I don’t know if I am ready yet to forgive the one who pulled the trigger.

“I am sure all victims of violent crimes feel as I do. But healing is what is urgently needed now in the world.”

Obsessed Beatles fan Mark Chapman shot and killed Lennon, 40, outside his apartment in New York in 1980. Chapman is currently serving time in prison.

Artists Cover Lennon for Human Rights

Eva Lam — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 02:22:53 +0000

The Cure, Snow Patrol and the Postal Service are just some of the artists who will cover John Lennon tunes for ?Make Some Noise,? Amnesty International?s global project for human rights awareness.

Avril Lavigne and the Black Eyed Peas will also record songs by Lennon to raise funds for the organization.

The first four tracks will be released on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day. The Cure?s rendition of ?Love,? Snow Patrol?s “Isolation,” the Postal Service’s “Grow Old With Me” and the Black Eyed Peas? “Power to the People” will be available for download at amnesty.org.

Lavigne?s cover and other songs will be released next year, said the human rights group Thursday.

A compilation album will also be released in 2006.

The campaign aims to ?bring an awareness of human rights to a new generation,? said Amnesty International secretary-general Irene Khan, according to MSNBC.

?After all, human rights are what make music possible ? we wouldn?t be able to create music, listen to it or dance to it without freedom of speech, expression and association,? Khan said.

Dec. 8 will mark the 25th anniversary of Lennon?s death. His widow, Yoko Ono, donated the rights to his solo songbook to Amnesty International in 2003.