The new short film Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song documents the journey of how a demo recorded by John Lennon in the late 1970s became a song released by the two surviving members of the band. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney worked on the song in the 1990s, but it was only recently, more than 25 years after Harrison’s death and 40 years after Lennon’s, and after technology used by director Peter Jackson in his 2020 documentary Get Back helped isolate Lennon’s vocals, that the song could finally come together.
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The filmmakers behind the doc — writer and director Oliver Murray, Apple Corps producer Jonathan Clyde, and Universal Music Group producer Sophie Hilton — tell The Treatment about how the film and song came together. They discuss the decision to have the story told only through the voices of The Beatles’ and that of Lennon’s son, Sean. They marvel at the enduring power of the Beatles to lift people up during dark times. And they talk about the thrill of witnessing Starr and McCartney recording new material.
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