Peter Jackson directed “Now and Then”, the Beatles’ last music video
The posthumous title composed by John Lennon in 1978 comes to life five decades later.
Two years after releasing his incredible documentary series Get Backdevoted to the recording of the last album of Beatlesfilmmaker Peter Jackson reunites with the Fab Four for a final tribute. He directed the group’s very last music video, that of the song “Now and Then“, a posthumous title composed by John Lennon in 1978 and completed in 2023 by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
A title that took five decades to see the light of day, first reworked for the first time in February 1995 by Paul, George and Ringo as part of the project The Beatles Anthology. A first attempt remained unfinished, in part because of the technological challenges impossible to solve at the time, linked to the quality of the original recording of John’s voice.
“For years, we believed that the song could never be completed. But in 2022, there was a magnificent twist of fate,” wrote the Beatles’ production. “A software system developed by Peter Jackson and his team, used throughout the production of the Get Back documentary series, ultimately paved the way for the decoupling of John’s vocals from his piano part. As a result, the original recording was able to come back to life and be reworked with the contribution of the four Beatles.”
It is logical that Peter Jackson directed the music video for Now and Thenwhich uses images from Paul and Ringo’s latest recording, mixed with archive images. “I am extremely proud of the result obtained, and I will keep excellent memories of this experience” comments the New Zealand director of Lord of the Rings. “It’s not easy to arouse emotion using only archive images, but the evocative power of this magnificent song did most of the work.”.
