He has already proved his worth when handling archive footage with 'They Shall Not Grow Old' - and now Peter Jackson is taking on the Fab Four.
The 'Lord of the Rings' director's next project is a documentary about The Beatles.
'The Beatles: Get Back' was culled from 55 hours' worth of unseen studio archive footage, and it documents the making of the band's last album 'Let It Be'. The iconic footage of the band playing on the roof of the Apple building in 1969 will also feature.
The making of 'Let it Be' was previously documented in a 1970 film by Michael Lindsey-Hogg, which told the story that led to the band's eventual demise. Some of Jackson's film will use the same footage, but the aforementioned 55 hours of unseen footage will be new.
The film was acquired by Disney and will be released in North American cinemas on September 4th, with an Irish release date TBC. It's the second big-budget/big-name Beatles documentary in recent years, following 2016's 'Eight Days a Week', directed by Ron Howard.
Jackson said: "Working on this project has been a joyous discovery. I’ve been privileged to be a fly on the wall while the greatest band of all time works, plays and creates masterpieces. I’m thrilled that Disney have stepped up as our distributor. There’s no one better to have our movie seen by the greatest number of people.”
Paul McCartney said that he was "really happy that Peter has delved into our archives to make a film that shows the truth about The Beatles recording together, The friendship and love between us comes over and reminds me of what a crazily beautiful time we had.”
Ringo Starr, meanwhile, said 'I’m really looking forward to this film. Peter is great and it was so cool looking at all this footage. There was hours and hours of us just laughing and playing music, not at all like the version that came out. There was a lot of joy and I think Peter will show that. I think this version will be a lot more peace and loving, like we really were.”
