Mixing
Backbeat (film)
| Backbeat | |
|---|---|
 UK film poster | |
| Directed by | Iain Softley |
| Produced by | Finola Dwyer Stephen Woolley |
| Written by | Iain Softley Stephen Ward |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Don Was |
| Cinematography | Ian Wilson |
| Edited by | Martin Walsh |
Production company | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Gramercy Pictures |
Release date | 14 April 1994 |
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom Germany |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2,392,589 |
Backbeat is a 1994 Anglo-German drama film directed by Iain Softley. It chronicles the early days of the Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff) and John Lennon (Ian Hart), and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee). It has subsequently been made into a stage production.
Contents
1 Production
2 Main cast
3 Response
3.1 Box office
4 Stage version
4.1 Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow
4.2 Duke of York's Theatre, London
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Production
The original script was written by Iain Softley from interviews in 1988. After failing to secure funding, screenwriter Stephen Ward was brought in to completely rewrite the script in 1993. Ward interviewed Astrid Kirchherr and others who were close to the Beatles during their time in Hamburg. The project was green-lighted that year.
Due to the film focusing on the early days of the band,the soundtrack to the film includes no songs written by members of the Beatles, but various songs the group performed in Hamburg, written and recorded by other artists.
Rather than re-create the sounds of the period, iconoclastic, rebellious musicians were recruited (as a producer noted, the Beatles' pre-recording stage act was "the punk of its day"). This was done to better convey the way the music came across to the audience, at the time. The musicians were all members of American rock bands:
Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum): vocals (Paul McCartney)
Greg Dulli (The Afghan Whigs): vocals (John Lennon)
Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth): guitar
Don Fleming (Gumball): guitar
Mike Mills (R.E.M.): bass guitar
Dave Grohl (Nirvana): drums
Henry Rollins (Black Flag): vocals on "Love Me Tender"
The original recording of "My Bonnie," performed by Tony Sheridan with the Beatles as a backing group was used in the film, the only use of a real Beatles performance.[citation needed]
Additionally, the film's distributor, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, was then under common ownership with the label which owned the rights to release and distribute the Beatles' music from the Hamburg days, Polydor Records.
Main cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Stephen Dorff | Stuart Sutcliffe |
| Sheryl Lee | Astrid Kirchherr |
| Ian Hart | John Lennon |
| Gary Bakewell | Paul McCartney |
| Chris O'Neill | George Harrison |
| Paul Duckworth | Ringo Starr |
| Scot Williams | Pete Best |
| Kai Wiesinger | Klaus Voormann |
| Jennifer Ehle | Cynthia Powell |
| Paul Humpoletz | Bruno Koschmider |
| Wolf Kahler | Bert Kaempfert |
| James Doherty | Tony Sheridan |
Hart also played Lennon in the film The Hours and Times. Bakewell later reprised his role as McCartney in the television film The Linda McCartney Story, and Williams again played Best in the television film In His Life: The John Lennon Story.
Response
Paul McCartney was not impressed with the film, stating:
One of my annoyances about the film Backbeat is that they've actually taken my rock 'n' rollness off me. They give John the song "Long Tall Sally" to sing and he never sang it in his life. But now it's set in cement. ['Paul' sang Long Tall Sally in the Glasgow stage version]. It's like the Buddy Holly and Glenn Miller stories. The Buddy Holly Story does not even mention Norman Petty, and The Glenn Miller Story is a sugarcoated version of his life. Now Backbeat has done the same thing to the story of the Beatles. I was quite taken, however, with Stephen Dorff's astonishing performance as Stu.[1]
George Harrison was so disappointed with the film that he reportedly walked out of the theater within five minutes of the movie beginning.
Cynthia Lennon was unimpressed with Jennifer Ehle's portrayal of her, saying that in the film she was portrayed "as a clingy, dim little girl in a headscarf."
Astrid Kirchherr praised the accuracy and detail of her relationship with Sutcliffe and the Beatles.[2]
As of November 2018, Backbeat holds a rating of 72% based on 36 reviews.[3]
Box office
The film did well on limited release.[4][vague]
Stage version
Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow
Re-imagined for the stage by the original writer and director of the 1994 film, Iain Softley, Backbeat premiered at Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre on 9 February 2010[5] featuring a live band.
- Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Nick Blood | Stuart Sutcliffe |
| Isabella Calthorpe | Astrid Kirchherr |
| Andrew Knott | John Lennon |
| Daniel Healy | Paul McCartney |
| Jamie Blackley | George Harrison |
| Oliver Bennett | Pete Best |
| Justin McDonald | Klaus Voorman |
| Kate Hodgson | Cynthia Lennon |
| Paddy Lannigan | Bruno Koschmider |
| Robert Reina | Bert Kaempfert |
| Charles Swift | Tony Sheridan |
Duke of York's Theatre, London
In 2011 the stage version opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London. It was co-written by Iain Softley and Stephen Jeffreys, with musical direction by Paul Stacey, and directed by David Leveaux.[6]
See also
Nowhere Boy - another pre-Beatles biopic, focusing on the life of young John Lennon and the formation of The Quarrymen.
References
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^ Beatlesnumber9. "Astrid Kirchherr - Her Bio With Photos of the early Beatles". beatlesnumber9.com.
^ "Backbeat".
^ "Weekend Box Office : Hey, Chevy, the British Are Coming". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
^ "Citizens Theatre". Citz.co.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
^ "Backbeat - Duke of Yorks Theatre, London - Tickets, information, reviews". www.london-theatreland.co.uk.
External links
Backbeat on IMDb
Backbeat at AllMovie
Backbeat at Box Office Mojo
Backbeat at Rotten Tomatoes
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