Beatles To Party Again With Liam Gallagher
By
Stop Crying Your Heart Out
on
May 07, 2010
Liam Gallagher is bringing his idols The Beatles back together on the big screen in a movie that will explore the ‘stoned’ years that led to the band’s demise.
The former Oasis frontman is developing a film, set between 1967 and 1970, based on an insider’s view of the circus-like atmosphere at the Savile Row headquarters of The Beatles’ record company, Apple.
Liam has the screen rights to Richard DiLello’s memoir of his years as Apple’s ‘house hippy’, where his job included working in the company’s press office.
DiLel lo’s highly personal account, The Longest Cocktail Party: An Insider’s Diary Of The Beatles, Their Million Dollar Apple Empire And Its Wild Rise And Fall, published in 1972, details the comings and goings of Paul McCar tney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and their wives, girlfriends and hangers on.
It gives DiLello’s take on the personal and business problems that were to drive The Beatles apart.
His book recounts ‘stoned conversations’ and hilarious observations of the Apple office’s open bar and ‘other accommodations ’ with regards to recreational activities on offer.
The movie would feature actors portraying the Fab Four and cover the years when rock ’n’ roll was moving from its cool, ‘let it be’ vibe to the point where it was controlled by soulless multinational corporations.
And that is how the music industry has remained - though Liam and his brother Noel, in their Oasis heyday, certainly knew how to emulate the crazy, heady early era when rock really rolled.
Liam and his partners at Revolution Films will officially launch the project during the Cannes Film Festival next week.
They are still looking for a screenwriter and director. Then comes the task of casting actors to portray The Beatles, their families and associates, though that won’t begin until there’s a completed screenplay at the the task of casting actors to portray The Beatles, their families and associates, though that won’t begin until there’s a completed screenplay at the end of this year, or possibly early next year.
The Longest Cocktail Party also features tales of various other artists on the Apple roster, including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Doris Troy, Badfinger and Billy Preston.
Lauren Bacall, of all people, pops up in the tale after she visited the Apple HQ with her children.
Both Gallagher brothers are fans of the book. Noel has praised it, using language that is too colourful to repeat in a family newspaper.
With the two siblings at each others’ throats, I can only wonder at the behind-the-scenes wrangling over the rights. I can see Liam digging out his soul on this movie. If it all comes together, it’s going to be a scorcher.
With British productions Red, Hamlet, La Cage Aux Folles and A Little Night Music Hoovering up Tony nominations, I hear that the producers of Priscilla The Musical are to hire top choreographer Jerry Mitchell as ‘production consultant’ to whip the show into shape for Broadway.
The idea is to make it less vulgar for the Americans’ delicate sensibilities. Ha! There’s talk of Will Swenson, so good in Hair at the Gielgud, joining the show.
By the way, Cameron Mackintosh has lowered the price of tickets to his shows through May, so top tickets for Hair are just £39.50.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
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