Free Tickets for a Special Screening of New Beatles Movie

Across the Universe, a groundbreaking movie musical set to the background of 33 classic Beatles songs, is set to make it’s Liverpool debut on Thursday September 27 – after being shot across the city.

At a special screening organized by BAFTA and Northwest Vision and Media, which works on behalf of the TV, film, radio and digital content industries, film fans will be given a unique opportunity to watch the Beatles-inspired love story right on the doorstep of the group’s old stomping ground, Woolton Picture House.

And for some, there’ll be an opportunity to attend an informal reception afterwards, to be held across the road in St Peter’s Church Hall – where the Fab Four used to rehearse.

“The event promises to be a truly memorable night for Beatles’ fans, and we’re privileged to have been given access to this wonderful film before its national release,” explains Alice Morrison, Chief Executive of Vision and Media.

The Liverpool Film Office, which is funded by the city council and located within the Culture Company, played a significant part in helping to get the film onto the big screen. “Liverpool played host to Across The Universe last year, with the production spending seven days in the city,” explains Liverpool Film Officer, Kevin Bell. “It was by the far the biggest filming unit the city had ever seen – it was a huge film!” adds Kevin.

The team behind the production have since enthused about the support they received from the Film Office, Liverpool City Council and Merseyside Police, a feeling shared by theirs US counterparts.

“While they here the company invested greatly into local talent and services, with 40% of its crew and 52% of the services they used sourced locally,” adds Kevin, who also helped to co-ordinate the logistics of accommodating such a large-scale operation.

The gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical film, by Revolution Studios, is written and directed by Julie Taymor (Frida, Titus, and the Broadway smash hit musical The Lion King) together with writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (The Commitments).

The original story was inspired by 33 revolutionary songs – including Hey Jude, I Am the Walrus, and All You Need is Love – that defined a generation. Unlike most musicals, where a story comes first and songs are inserted in it at key points, it was the Beatles’ songs which created this story. “Beginning with over 200 songs written by the Beatles, we eventually chose 33 that we felt best told the story of a generation and a time,” says Julie.

“The entire concept of this musical is that the lyrics tell the story. They are the libretto, they are the arias, they are the emotion of the characters.”

A love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n roll, the film moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam – and yet much of the action was filmed in Liverpool and New York, with over 50 locations in 60 days.

Location manager Rob Striem notes: “On a lot of films you have a few locations where you can settle in and get comfortable. On this film, every single set was one, two or three days at most, so we were constantly jumping around.”

The film tells the story of star-crossed lovers, Jude (played by Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), who, along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with cameos by such notable stars as U2’s Bono, Salma Hayek, Eddie Izzard and singer Joe Cocker.

Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy – against all odds – to find their own way back to each other.

For Julie Taymor, though the film is set a generation back, making the story and the film fresh and alive for today’s audiences was the entire point. “I really want young people to see the passion in this movie – to see with what fervor these characters invested themselves into social movements as well as self-exploration,” she says. “I hope it really speaks ‘across the universe’ and across cultures... that anybody could identify with the situations and the events that are happening in this movie.”

Julie notes that many of the issues facing young people in the ‘60s are still very relevant today. Indeed, the production was able to take current newspaper articles about Iraq, change the names in the headlines, and found they still worked perfectly for the film’s Vietnam stories.

Actress Evan Rachel Wood agrees. Recording a scene where she attends the funeral of her soldier brother, she admits she was unprepared for the emotions inspired by the Let It Be lyrics.

“I knew it was going to be a hard scene for my character, Lucy,” she says, “but I wasn’t really going to break down or cry or anything. But when they said ‘action’ and they started playing Let It Be and folding the American flag in front of me, I don’t know what happened, but I just completely broke down; I just couldn’t contain it.

“Listening to the song, I thought, ‘This is probably going on right now; people are still seeing this every day, and people still have to fold these American flags in front of these families.’ It just killed me. This movie has a really big effect.”

The special screening of Across The Universe is being held as part of the BAFTA In The Regions programme. BAFTA Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Price, says: “In our quest to promote the art forms of the moving image throughout the UK, BAFTA has partnered with Northwest Vision and Media for the past two years to put on a series of events and screenings across the region.

“Whilst the Academys main aim is to benefit the viewing public and inspire practitioners, we are proud to have contributed to Northwest Vision and Medias success in developing new audiences for film and television.”

· A limited number of FREE tickets are available for the Across The Universe Screening at Woolton Picture House, On Thursday September 27 at 7.30pm. To apply, email events@visionandmedia.co.uk by Sunday September 23.