Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reflected on The Beatles’ “crazy” arrival in America in a trailer for a new Disney+ documentary. ‘Beatles ’64’ will follow John Lennon, Sir Paul, George Harrison, and Sir Ringo on their journey from Liverpool to superstardom in the United States in 1964.
Produced by Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese, the film will feature never-seen-before footage of the band and the masses of fans who greeted them in North America at the height of Beatlemania. On February 7, 1964, The Beatles arrived in New York City to unprecedented excitement and hysteria.
From the instant they landed at Kennedy Airport, met by thousands of fans, Beatlemania swept New York and the entire country. Their iconic debut performance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ was seen by more than 73m viewers and became the most watched television event of its time.
The documentary features archive footage as well as new interviews conducted by Scorsese. The trailer, released earlier this week, sees Sir Paul reflect on the band’s journey to America, which came shortly after President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in 1963. The 82-year-old from Walton said: “Maybe America needed something like The Beatles to be lifted out of sorrow.”
The trailer also shows Sir Ringo being interviewed by Scorsese. While the filmmaker laughs, Sir Ringo says: “We were just like ‘we’re in America, America!’”
At one point after footage of screaming and fainting fans is shown, he also says: “I think the craziness was going on in the world and in the band, we were kind of normal and the rest of the world was crazy. Everybody got into the mania when The Beatles came to town.”
The film is directed by David Tedeschi and produced by Sir Paul and Sir Ringo as well as George’s widow Olivia and John’s son Sean. It will be released on the streaming service on November 29.
It follows a number of high-profile documentaries released about The Beatles in recent years, including Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’, Ron Howard’s ‘Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years’ and Martin Scorsese’s ‘George Harrison: Living in the Material World’, which have all hit screens since 2010.
