1 week Ago By Niamh Spence
The relationship between The Beatles star John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono forms the main focus of a new documentary highlighting the couple's charity work, their love, and their family in the run-up to Lennon's death. John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in December 1980 in New York City , leaving behind a legacy of music, art, and charity work. Now, 45 years on since the star's death, unseen footage and private archives have been shared with the world in a new documentary.
One to One: John & Yoko will hit theaters this month and focuses on their lives in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s. The documentary was directed by Kevin Macdonald, whose other work includes documentaries on Bob Marley and Whitney Houston. It also features footage of the couple’s 1972 concerts at Madison Square Garden.
The documentary features original footage of the couple as well as some recreation, with Macdonald painstakingly recreating the couple’s Greenwich Village flat, down to the debris strewn out on the floor. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Macdonald revealed he hesitated before agreeing to make the documentary, as he explained, "I was nervous about making another John Lennon or Beatles film, to be honest. I was 13 when Lennon died, and I grew up obsessed with him.
Admittedly, there was part of me that thought, 'Oh, it’s my childhood dream, to make a film about John Lennon.' But how do you do something different? There’s just been so much said and done." However, Macdonald also explained that he had full backing from the John Lennon estate for the documentary.
"They gave me access to everything they had, so if there was something controversial they had been sitting on and there was some sort of idea that they could say 'no' to stuff later, I wasn’t aware of it," he said. "When I told Sean my original idea, his immediate response was, 'My mother would love this idea! Go ahead and do it.' As someone who’s a musician himself and a creative person, he loved the fact that it was playful and creative and not just a document of a performance or reducing things to 'John was this, Yoko was that.
'" "But he did say something interesting to me. After I showed him a cut, he said, 'This is the only film I’ve seen that captures who my mother really was.' So that felt good to hear.
" The new documentary is also a family affair as the couple's son Sean Lennon was involved in the final edit . Sean produced and remixed the concert audio for the movie, which also collages together home movies and phone calls, as well as footage of an intricate reconstruction of the couple’s Bank Street apartment and snippets of 1970s television. John Lennon was tragically shot in New York in 1980, passing away when his son Sean was just five years old.
John and Sean had shared a close bond, with John becoming a stay-at-home dad to look after him when he was born in 1975. Last year, Sean opened up about his parents' love, as he revealed his mom, Yoko Ono, was "never moving on" after John's death in 1980. Sean told BBC Radio 6 Music in December: "I grew up with my mom speaking about my dad every day.
"She famously cut her hair when my dad died [because] in Japan, you used to cut your hair when your husband dies. So she spoke of him every day, and I think she never has moved on from that relationship." He's also previously opened up on his own grief and loss, as last year he reflected on how his father’s death in 1980 led to him pursuing music to fill a "void.
" He told PEOPLE : "I never played music because I was good at it. I lost my father, and I didn’t know how to fill that void. Learning how to play his songs on guitar was a way to process the loss with an activity that made me feel connected to him.
"When you’ve lost a parent, things like that motivate you – because you’re trying to find them. Making music always made me feel like I was getting to know him better." Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sport and entertainment stories.
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