The Beatles’ songs have provided fodder for a handful of musical movies. During the 2000s, fans got to see a Fab Four musical from a famous director. Here’s her idea for another movie musical with Beatles songs.
This famous director already this bold movie based on The Beatles’ songs
Julie Taymor is a famous director of the stage and screen. She’s probably most famous to Broadway fans for directing the stage version of Disney’s The Lion King. The Lion King is the most acclaimed Broadway musical based on a Disney film. It’s been praised for its expansion of the movie and its unique staging and visuals.
The other notable part of Taymor’s Broadway career is she directed Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a musical based on the eponymous superhero. This musical was notorious because some actors who played the title role injured themselves during performances. In addition, Taymor directed several films including the cult classics Titus, Frida, and The Tempest.
Perhaps the biggest cult classic of her career is Across the Universe, a musical based on The Beatles’ songs. Some of the Beatles covers in the film are faithful to the originals while others are strikingly different. For example, the film’s version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” is a ballad while its version of “Hey Jude” is much shorter than The Beatles’. According to Cinema Blend, Taymor is down for a sequel to Across the Universe.
What Julie Taymor wants to do with The Beatles’ songs she didn’t use in ‘Across the Universe’
“I’m trying to convince people to make –I don’t want to call it Across the Universe 2 – but the next one,” she revealed. “I just got off the phone about that actually. My God, there were 200 Beatles songs. So I only used 33. Plus I’d love to take, Jim Sturgess called me up and he wants to do it and Evan [Rachel Wood]’s game.
“I’m sure I can get the other people…I’d like to push it into the ‘70s,” she said. “Really edgy, weird times in the ‘70s that are going to be very similar to what’s going to be happening in our country now, right? I dunno, you gotta find me some very daring people that are ready to do a new musical. That are very, you know, next generation… Everyone I talk to loves Across the Universe. We gotta do the next one.”
Were the covers of Beatles songs from ‘Across the Universe’ popular?
While Taymor was excited at the prospect of using Beatles songs that weren’t in Across the Universe in its sequel, it’s not clear if the public really wants new songs from the cast of the film. The soundtrack of Across the Universe charted at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 before falling off the chart the following week. It wasn’t a huge hit if it counts as a hit at all.
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