Beatles Musical - "Across the Universe" discussion thread (Merged) (1 Viewer)

[Adam_S]

Finally! The trailer for "Across the Universe"!. Think Beatles meets Moulin Rouge. One thing the trailer doesn't make very clear is that this is an all out musical. Julie Taymor, the director, did one of the most poetic, unique and gorgeous adaptations of Shakespeare ever with "Titus" a film worth checking out if you're curious what her style is like.

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1552760&sdm=web&qtw=480&qth=300

It's not a great trailer, but it gives you a sense of the trippiness. Doubtless some of you are very excited right now and some of you are having heart attacks in rage, but I, for one, cannot wait to see it.

 

[Ray H]

Hadn't heard of this before. Looks interesting.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Titus and Frida had some of the most visually stunning sequences in recent movies, so I'm always up for another Taymor movie. Not sure if the music will work very well since everyone is so familiar with the songs, and used to the vocals.

 

[Chris]

Thanks for the heads up! Hadn't heard of it. I am an incredible Beatles fan, and I enjoyed the trailer. How well this all works together will be interesting to me. I wonder how much say the living Beatles (Paul/Ringo) had in it.

 

[John Kilduff]

I was expecting Keenan Ivory Wayans to appear and say "Message!" when I saw the trailer.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

I think I'll just stick to my Beatles albums.

 

[Derek Miner]

When you decide to tell a story of the 60s and set it to Beatles songs, you're setting yourself up for a mighty big fall if it doesn't work. That said, I'm really interested in seeing this movie. The trailer has some interesting visuals, but they better be trying hard to rise above the obvious and trite concepts that come to mind.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Upon watching the trailer I got excited and sought out a release date. Having found that it doesn't come out until SEPTEMBER 28!!! I am now terribly disappointed and will commence forgetting about its existence to cope.

 

[george kaplan]

I will reserve judgment until I actually see this, but must admit to not being overly thrilled based on the trailer. Leaving the music aside, this trailer would lead me to expect a type of film I wouldn't normally like. I'm also not too keen on the idea of others singing the Beatle music (images of Sgt. Pepper :shudder: ). My guess is that it'll be somewhere between Sgt. Pepper and A Hard Day's Night. Let's hope it's closer to the latter.

 

[Radioman970]

Looks "wrong". A bit off. I'm wondering what other long time fans of the Beatles think of this trailer.

I saw a Beatles tribute band recently and they were awesome. I felt like what it might have been to watch the real thing.

http://www.1964thetribute.com/

 

[Craig S]

I hadn't heard of this before, but the trailer is compelling.

This is (at least) the third attempt to marry the Beatles' music as interpreted by other artists to film - the first being the little-seen All This And World War II, and the second being, of course, the execrable Sgt. Pepper's. But it's been a while, and Taymor's artistic pedigree already has this project miles ahead of the other two. This Beatles' fan will give it a chance.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Well, I'm a big fan and though I was able to view the video I couldn't hear the audio of the trailer (I don't like downloading all sorts of things). So I don't have much to go on and have to reserve judgment until I hear more, see more. My first thought is that it may make younger people more aware of the Beatles' music.

 

[TheLongshot]

You know, as much as people seem to hate "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", for me, it was one of the main avenues to be exposed to the Beatles, especially since my parents were never fans.

At least in this case, it isn't going to be dated by the popular artists of the time.

Jason

 

[Radioman970]

At work, I had audio problems too, I must admit. And Joe's statement here makes sense. It looks like something made for younger fans. Just doesn't appeal to me without audio. I guess we're seeing some flaws visually without the music proping it all up.

 

[ThomasC]

Ditto. I'm excited and scared at the same time.

 

[EricW]

i'm sure most Beatles fans know this, but a bit of trivia: it costs $1,000,000 everytime you want to use a Beatles song (as performed by the Beatles) in a movie. which is why most of the time you hear cover versions.

 

[Tim Glover]

Me too.

 

[Nathan V]

I thought you couldn't use them at all anymore. Guess I was wrong. I've only heard an actual (non-cover) tune in a non-Beatles picture, once, in De Niro's A Bronx Tale.

As for this, Taymor's command over visuals is STAGGERING. The train crash scene in Frida is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. And about a million moments in Titus, certainly the most creative, excessive, balls-out (and oddly, spot-on) Shakespeare adaptation. How she shot that on a shoestring is beyond me.

Knowing her, I was expecting a little more visual exuberance from the trailer, but I really get the feeling the trailer is trying (very hard) to make it appear to be a normal movie. I read that there's almost no dialogue in the picture.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Zack Gibbs]

"I've only heard an actual (non-cover) tune in a non-Beatles picture, once, in De Niro's A Bronx Tale. "


I could only think of one, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I think if you're going to put a Beatles tune in your film, a cover is almost always the better way to go IMO. Somehow it would draw too much attention otherwise. Unless its a movie about The Beatles, then you have my permission.

 

[TheLongshot]

There is an early screening review on AICN today:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31807

If you don't want to read it, it is positive for the most part.

Jason

 

[EricW]

i think Wes Anderson said in his audio commentary that he wanted to use the actual 'Hey Jude' for the beginning of Royal Tenenbaums, but didn't because it was too expensive. he didn't say anything about legalities. it's hard to say but i think the instrumental version's much better.