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2.52pm
28 March 2014
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Picked it up on Blu Ray for like $4. How could I say no to that!
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10.27am
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1 May 2011
Offline Parlance posted an interview Paul gave with Rolling Stone elsewhere on the forum, i thought it would be appropriate to include Paul’s comments on ‘Nowhere Boy’ in here.
When Sam Taylor did her film [Nowhere Boy], she brought the script round and we chatted about it. She’s a very good friend. And I said, “Well, Sam, that’s not really true. John didn’t really ride on the top of the double-decker bus.” She said, “No, but it’s a great scene.” I mean, the character of Mimi, John’s aunt, I said to her, “She really wasn’t how she’s written in the script. She’s written as a very vitriolic, mean old bitch, and she wasn’t at all.” She was just some woman who was given charge of the responsibility of bringing up John Lennon , and it was not an easy job, you know? She was trying her best. She was kind of strict, but it was with a twinkle in her eye. I said, “I used to go around there and write with John, and she was okay. You’ve got to change that.” Some of the things she did change, but in the end we agreed that this is not a documentary, this is a film, and so she made inferences that weren’t there. Like, this whole idea of the first song we recorded, “In Spite Of All The Danger ,” being John’s ode to his mother. That’s not true, but in a film, it works better. I remember the session, and I remember all the circumstances around that – and we wrote it together. It did not appear to be an angst-ridden ode. We were copying American stuff that we were listening to. American songs were about danger, that’s why we put it in. But, for Sam, it worked much better in the film as an angst-ridden ballad.
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Zig, parlance"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
3.48pm
8 November 2012
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17 December 2012
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Though, if the reviews are anything to by (by both public and critics), not something she’ll be bragging about. It’s getting a roasting (if those who get the pun will forgive me)!
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
7.54pm
8 November 2012
Offline From an article in the LA Times about women directors:
For women like “Fifty Shades of Grey” director Taylor-Johnson, forging a career has meant refusing to accept some pervasive biases. When she raised her hand to direct her first film, the 2009 John Lennon biopic “Nowhere Boy,” producers told her they had something else in mind, she said.
“They were dangerously frank to me in saying, ‘We’d prefer a male director,'” she said. Irked, Taylor-Johnson emailed the producers a line of Lennon’s about gender politics. “I said, ‘Remember, John Lennon said this, and so I think you should employ me.”
She got the job.
parlance
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Bongo, Beatlebug12.06pm
11 November 2013
Offline I wrote this review some while ago:
There is a paradox inherent in making biographical movies. They purport to tell a true story but the very fact that real people are portrayed by actors means that they are false. And the story itself is inevitably a fictionalisation of reality notwithstanding that, as in this case, there is a great deal of evidence to support the main thrust of the story.
And so it is that, in Nowhere Boy, a film by Sam Taylor-Wood which tells of the relatively short period in the young John Lennon ‘s life from the death of his Uncle George to the death of his mother Julia , we are shown various fictitious moments such as a no holds barred three way confrontation between Lennon, Julia , and his Aunt Mimi, and Lennon bloodily punching Paul McCartney to the ground in reaction to Julia ‘s death.
But although these scenes and others did not happen – they are not true – there is nonetheless a great truth to them, in the sense that the theatrical profession constantly looks for truths in writing, direction and performance. The events portrayed in this film always seem real – if the events did not happen exactly as portrayed, then something similar must have happened. And, even if it didn’t, there are still truths on display.
The film successfully evokes a sense of the 1950s and of the burgeoning rock and roll scene (I can’t speak for whether it evokes Liverpool or not), and also a sense of the individuals it portrays.
The actors don’t look like their real-life counterparts (in particular, the features of Aaron “Kick-Ass” Johnson are far too conventionally attractive to be mistaken for the long and angular face of Lennon), but one appreciates that the film-makers were deliberately concerned not to people the movie with what Taylor-Wood refers to as “lookie-likies”. The important point is that, as intended, everyone concerned evokes something of the spirit of the characters they play, and there are some excellent performances, particularly by the three principals.
So even if this film doesn’t contain the truth – and it never could – it still contains Truths and is a compelling telling of a short but highly influential period in the too-short life of its subject.
5.35pm
8 November 2012
Offline parlance said
BTW, Sam Taylor-Johnson is the director of Fifty Shades of Grey.
As is definitely not directing the sequels.
parlance
12.09pm
28 July 2015
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Just saw Nowhere Boy last night. It was okay, but the only real problem I had with it was that they couldn’t get better actors that actually RESEMBLED them. The actor who played Paul didn’t really look like Paul. It was a bit better with the actor who played John, mainly because he looked a bit more like John than Paul looked like Paul. I really hope that made sense.
Also, quick question, was the original movie not in English? When I went online to find it, I got it in a language that I didn’t know, but luckily I found it in English after some minutes of searching
1.31pm
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18 March 2013
Offline natureaker said
Just saw Nowhere Boy last night. It was okay, but the only real problem I had with it was that they couldn’t get better actors that actually RESEMBLED them. The actor who played Paul didn’t really look like Paul. It was a bit better with the actor who played John, mainly because he looked a bit more like John than Paul looked like Paul. I really hope that made sense.Also, quick question, was the original movie not in English? When I went online to find it, I got it in a language that I didn’t know, but luckily I found it in English after some minutes of searching
I think for biopics it’s better to have an actor who can actually act like the person they’re portraying rather than just like this- Thomas Brodie Sangster (who played Paul) looks nothing like him but the little glances and his random mouth-movements just scream McCartney, he does a good job at playing Paul and I wish we got to see a bit more of him in the film.
As regards Aaron Taylor-Johnson, he kind-of looks like John but he’s more traditionally “handsome” than John is. But I think he’s great as John, showing the messed-up teenager who just when everything seemed to fit into place he got a big hit like his uncle or his mam dying. That and I love the wry humour in it:
“Any chance I can get the magazine back sir?” 😛
And yes it’s originally in English, it’s been dubbed into a lot of languages (I have the German version).
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10.11am
28 February 2020
Offline It was a very weird movie for me to watch because the actress playing Julia (Ann-Marie Duff) is a dead ringer for my ex wive’s mom when she was younger. The thing is my former mother in law was much more like Mimi than Julia . Right now Ann Marie is right around the same age as my exes mom when I first started dating her daughter and the resemblance is even more pronounced. It’s very spooky. BTW my ex father in law did not look like James McAvoy
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lovelyritametermaidWhat is happening? And tell me how you've been.
3.46pm
30 July 2021
Offline Does anyone know where i can get a deleted scene with the song “that” ll be day”? I searched the entire internet, but to no avail.
7.32pm
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1 May 2011
Offline Not the greatest quality but the clip is on youtube.
And welcome to the forum.
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Rube"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
12.29pm
21 August 2023
Offline meanmistermustard said
Not the greatest quality but the clip is on youtube.
And welcome to the forum.
It’s a shame that this scene wasn’t included in the film. I mean, it’s side-A of the 1957 recording, it would have been great to see it with In Spite Of All The Danger , right?
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Rube12.32pm
21 August 2023
Offline10.29pm
14 June 2016
Online Funny how Aaron Taylor Johnson is potentially a James Bond candidate. John Lennon as James Bond!
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