Across the Universe Plot
Across the Universe is a 2007 musical film directed by Julie Taymor and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. The script is based on an original story credited to Taymor, Clement and La Frenais, which incorporates compositions written by members of The Beatles. It stars Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess.
There are cameo appearances by Bono as Dr. Robert (a counter-culture shaman), Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite (a circus ringmaster), Joe Cocker as three street characters and Salma Hayek who appears (through digital special effects) as five nurses.
The film received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday September 10, 2007. It then had a very limited release on 27 screens in the USA on September 14, 2007, expanding to a "platform release" beginning on September 21, 2007 - expanding gradually in subsequent weeks. The film was was elevated to a comparatively broader release on 954 US screens on October 12 - breaking into the US Box Office Top Ten at number 8.
The story starts in the early 1960s with a young dock worker named Jude (played by Jim Sturgess) who travels from his home town of Liverpool, England to America in search of his American G.I. father (Robert Clohessy) he has never known. While in America he befriends Max (Joe Anderson) a rebellious young man from a privileged background, and his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Jude and Max become roommates in a bohemian enclave in New York City where they share an apartment with other individuals. They are joined in New York by Lucy and a romantic relationship evolves between her and Jude. When Max is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, Lucy becomes involved in the anti-war movement - leading to strains with the comparatively apolitical Jude. The film is constructed as a musical, with the actors expressing themselves and their inner emotions by singing compositions written between 1963-1969 by the members of The Beatles.
The film's end credits identify a total of 33 separate Beatles-related compositions featured in the film - either in the entirety or in part. One of the 33 officially credited songs (All You Need Is Love) includes a brief snippet of an earlier Lennon-McCartney song (She Loves You) interwoven into the latter part of its structure - just as it had been in the Beatles' original recording - making the actual total of Beatles songs featured in the film (in some manner or other) to be 34.
The 34 Beatles-related compositions were songs written between 1963 and 1969 by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr - that had been recorded by The Beatles. (The songs are invariably referred to by the public and media as "Beatles songs" though as the compositions themselves were created by, and are officially credited to, the individual writers not the group - such references are colloquial.)
30 of the 34 Beatles songs are compositions that are officially credited to the songwriting partnership of Lennon-McCartney. 3 songs are credited to George Harrison. 1 title ("Flying") is a 1967 composition credited to all four members of the Beatles - Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey. Of the 30 songs that bear the official Lennon-McCartney credit - 16 of the songs are titles that are customarily attributed primarily to Lennon as a writer; 10 are titles customarily attributed primarily to McCartney; the other 4 songs are titles which both Lennon and McCartney have confirmed were written in collaboration ("I Want to Hold Your Hand", "With a Little Help from My Friends", "A Day in the Life" and "She Loves You".)
31 of the 34 songs heard on the soundtrack feature vocals. 2 of the compositions are brief instrumental versions of songs that were originally written with lyrics ("And I Love Her" and "A Day in the Life.") There is 1 composition that was originally written as an instrumental ("Flying").
The 31 songs (or partial songs) that feature vocals are sung by the film's cast members - backed by top session musicians. 25 of the songs are sung by the six lead members of the cast - either as soloists or in various combinations. 4 of the songs are sung by stars with cameo roles (Bono, Eddie Izzard and Joe Cocker). 1 song ("Let It Be") is sung by supporting members of the cast. 1 song ("Blue Jay Way") is sung by indie Texan duo The Secret Machines.
The other 3 of the 34 compositions are rendered instrumentally. "Flying" performed by The Secret Machines, "And I Love Her" heard briefly as part of the specially-recorded orchestrated score and "A Day in the Life" performed on guitar by Jeff Beck in a version recorded for Sir George Martin's 1998 album In My Life.
29 of the 34 compositions are seen being performed on-screen in the film. 5 compositions ("And I Love Her", "A Day in the Life", "Flying", "Blue Jay Way" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") are heard but not rendered on-screen.
In addition to the 34 Beatles compositions, the soundtrack features original score composed by Elliot Goldenthal. Goldenthal worked with critical acclaim on Taymor's previous films Titus and Frida.
Beatles compositions featured in the film:
These are the Beatles compositions heard on the soundtrack - listed in the sequence heard in the film. (One title "Helter Skelter" is featured twice in the film.)
"Girl" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"Helter Skelter" Performed by Dana Fuchs (reprised later in the film)
"Hold Me Tight" Performed by Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Lisa Hogg
"All My Loving" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" Performed by T. V. Carpio
"With a Little Help from My Friends" Performed by Joe Anderson, Jim Sturgess & "Dorm Buddies"
"It Won't Be Long" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
"I've Just Seen a Face" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"Let It Be" Performed by Carol Woods, Timothy T. Mitchum
"Come Together" Performed by Joe Cocker and Martin Luther McCoy
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" Performed by Dana Fuchs
"If I Fell" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Performed by Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs and T.V. Carpio
"Dear Prudence" Performed by Dana Fuchs, Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson and T. V. Carpio
"Flying" Performed by The Secret Machines (performers not seen on-screen)
"Blue Jay Way" Performed by The Secret Machines (performers not seen on-screen)
"I Am the Walrus" Performed by Bono (accompanied by the Secret Machines)
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" Performed by Eddie Izzard
"Because" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, T. V. Carpio and Martin Luther McCoy
"Something" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"Oh! Darling" Performed by Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy
"Strawberry Fields Forever" Performed by Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson
"Revolution" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Performed by Martin Luther McCoy (joined by Jim Sturgess for one verse)
"Across the Universe" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"Helter Skelter" Performed by Dana Fuchs
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Performed by Joe Anderson and Salma Hayek
"A Day in the Life" - brief instrumental extract. Performed by Jeff Beck (Instrumental)
"Blackbird" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
"Hey Jude" Performed by Joe Anderson
"Don't Let Me Down" Performed by Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy
"All You Need is Love" Performed by Jim Sturgess, Dana Fuchs, T.V. Carpio and Martin Luther McCoy (featuring a brief rendition of the chorus of "She Loves You" sung by Joe Anderson)
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" Performed by Bono (this song is played over the end credits. Performance not seen on-screen)
Also featured in the film (awaiting insertion into the sequential listing above)
"And I Love Her" - brief extract incorporated into newly-recorded orchestral score
Interscope Records has released two different soundtrack albums. A 16-track single album of highlights from the film and a 31-track double-album containing all the vocal performances and one of the three instrumental tracks.
The physical CD version of the 16-track single album is available on general release. The physical CD version of the 31-track double-album is available exclusively at retail chain Best Buy. Both versions of the album are available digitally. The song "It Won't Be Long" was released as a single on iTunes on September 11, 2007.
Songs featured on the single-disc soundtrack album:
Across the Universe: Music From The Motion Picture
"All My Loving" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" Performed by T. V. Carpio
"It Won't Be Long" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
"I've Just Seen a Face" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"Let It Be" Performed by Carol Woods and Timothy T. Mitchum
"Come Together" Performed by Joe Cocker
"I Am the Walrus" Performed by Bono and Secret Machines
"Something" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"Oh! Darling" Performed by Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy
"Strawberry Fields Forever" Performed by Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson
"Across the Universe" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"Helter Skelter" Performed by Dana Fuchs
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Performed by Joe Anderson
"Blackbird" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
"Hey Jude" Performed by Joe Anderson
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" Performed by Bono (Background Vocals by The Edge)
The 31-track double-disc soundtrack album:
Across the Universe: Music From The Motion Picture (Deluxe Edition)
"Girl" Performed by Jim Sturgess
’’Hold Me Tight" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
’’All My Loving" Performed by Jim Sturgess
’’I Want to Hold Your Hand" Performed by T.V. Carpio
’’With a Little Help from My Friends" Performed by Jim Sturgess & Joe Anderson
’’It Won't Be Long" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
’’I've Just Seen a Face" Performed by Jim Sturgess
"Let It Be (Long Version)" Performed by Carol Woods & Timothy T. Mitchum
’’Come Together" Performed by Joe Cocker
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" Performed by Dana Fuchs
’’If I Fell" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
’’I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Performed by Joe Anderson
’’Dear Prudence" Performed by Dana Fuchs, Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess & Joe Anderson
"Flying" Performed by Secret Machines
’’Blue Jay Way" Performed by Secret Machines
’’I Am the Walrus" Performed by Bono & Secret Machines
’’Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" Performed by Eddie Izzard
"Because" Performed by Dana Fuchs, Evan Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Martin Luther McCoy & T.V. Carpio
’’Something" Performed by Jim Sturgess
’’Oh! Darling" Performed by Dana Fuchs & Martin Luther McCoy
’’Strawberry Fields Forever" Performed by Jim Sturgess & Joe Anderson
"Revolution" Performed by Jim Sturgess
’’While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Performed by Martin Luther McCoy
’’Across the Universe" Performed by Jim Sturgess
’’Helter Skelter" Performed by Dana Fuchs
’’Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Performed by Joe Anderson and Salma Hayek
"Blackbird" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
’’Hey Jude" Performed by Joe Anderson
’’Don't Let Me Down" Performed by Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy
’’All You Need Is Love" Performed by Jim Sturgess, Dana Fuchs, T.V. Carpio and Martin Luther McCoy
’’Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" Performed by Bono
In addition to the 33 Beatles compositions used in the movie, there are multiple references in the film to Beatles lyrics and folklore.
The alley in which Jude and Molly are seen kissing is the same location used in the music video for the Beatles' "Free as a Bird".
An elderly shipyard employee who gives Jude his paycheck says "I thought I'd be doing something different when I'm sixty-four" an allusion to the song "When I'm Sixty-Four".
An older woman at the dinner table scene (possibly Lucy's grandmother) comments on the "cranberry sauce", which is quietly said by John Lennon near the end of the song "Strawberry Fields Forever". The strawberries used throughout the film are also subtle references to that song.
Prudence first enters the New York apartment where the main characters live through an open bathroom window, a humorous reference to the song "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window." Someone asks where she came from and she replies "nowhere, man" - another Beatles song title.
When Max and Jude first see their new apartment, Sadie comments that Max seems harmless, but could have murdered his grandmother with a hammer, and in another scene Max is shown holding a silver hammer, both subtle references to the song that inspired Max's name, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer."
At one point, Jude sells his artwork to a man named Desmond, a name featured in the song "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."
The Liverpool club seen during the UK part of the Hold Me Tight sequence was filmed in the reconstituted Cavern Club in Liverpool
Apple Records, the company founded by the Beatles in 1968, is obliquely referenced when Jude is trying to draw a green apple, then slices it in half and tries to draw it again, thus producing the two images used for that company's record labels.
The rooftop concert toward the end of the film references the Beatles' famous impromptu rooftop concert atop their Apple offices in January 1969 - their final live performance.
The people in blue during the Mr. Kite sequence resemble Blue Meanies from Yellow Submarine.
The apartment that Paco is using as his headquarters is apartment number 9. At the end of the movie, when Lucy tries to get to Jude on the rooftop, the door that she's standing in front of when ringing the buzzer has a number 9 on it. These may be minor allusions to the avant-garde Beatles recording Revolution 9.
In March 2007, the media reported a dispute over the final cut of the film. Concerned with the length of director Julie Taymor's cut of the film, Revolution Studios (production studio) chairman Joe Roth tested a sneak preview of a shortened version without first informing Taymor. The incident sparked some heat between the two, later involving Sony Pictures (distributor) Amy Pascal urging Taymor to agree to the shorter version. After several months of dispute, Taymor's version was eventually reinstated, and was the theatrically released version.
The film's release date and release pattern has been the subject of some media and public discussion. The film had been originally scheduled for release in 2006. The release was postponed as the editing process became extended and then the subject of internal disputes. The film was subsequently scheduled for a wide release on approximately 1,000 US screens on September 28, 2007. In early September 2007, Sony Pictures announced that the release would be brought forward to September 14, with a "platform release" pattern starting on a small number of screens - with additional screens to be added in subequent weeks.
The film received its world premiere on Monday September 10, 2007 at the Toronto Film Festival. The film was then given a very limited "platform release" on 27 screens in the US on Friday September 14. The film had the second-highest "per-screen" average on its opening weekend. In the following weeks, the release was expanded, with the second week of release expanding to 276 locations in select regions. The film went into broad general release in the U.S. on October 12.
The club that Sadie and JoJo play in is named "Cafe Huh?", an allusion to "Cafe Wha?" a Greenwich Village club in which Jimi Hendrix got his start.
The majority of the songs were recorded live on-set and were not dubbed with studio recordings in post-production. Evan Rachel Wood's version of "If I Fell" is a live recording, and was successfully completed on the first take.
The song A Day in the Life is heard in an instrumental version by guitarist Jeff Beck from George Martin's 1998 album In My Life.
The younger sister of Max and Lucy, Julia, is an autobiographical character: Julie Taymor explains, “Lucy and Max, the brother and sister, are modeled slightly after my own older brother and sister, and I’m Julia, the young girl who’s watching" as her family dealt with the issues involved with being a young adult in the sixties.
Early versions of the script included a segment involving a prison guard named Sgt. Pepper, with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band set to accompany the scene. The entire idea was scrapped as the script was finalized for production.
Three of the ensemble cast members (Spencer Liff, Sarah Jayne Jensen, and Curtis Holbrook) appeared in Hairspray.
It was revealed on Wired.com that IP addresses associated with Sony Pictures were involved editing the Wikipedia entry on the movie.
When giving Max and Jude a tour of the apartment, Sadie mentions that a previous inhabitant "played sets at the Gaslight," possibly a reference to Bob Dylan, who lived in Greenwich Village and played at the Gaslight Cafe in the early 1960s. Dylan figured into the Beatles' career as the musician who introduced them to marijuana.
In reference to the "drug" bus the characters ride on, "Weird Load" is written on the back, giving historical proof of its Merry Pranksters reference.
Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters are remembered chiefly for the social significance of a lengthy roadtrip they took in 1964, traveling across the United States in a psychedelically painted school bus enigmatically labeled "Furthur." "Caution: Weird Load" was painted on the back of the bus. The trip's original purpose was to celebrate the publication of Kesey's novel "Sometimes a Great Notion" and to visit the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. The Pranksters were enthusiastic users of marijuana, amphetamines, and LSD, and in the process of their journey they are said to have "turned on" many people by introducing them to these drugs. During this voyage they unsuccessfully attempted to meet Dr. Timothy Leary at his Millbrook estate in New York, where they had hoped to hold a summit meeting between the two major leaders of the psychedelic movement.
The scene in which Lucy discovers Paco and members of his group making time bombs in the apartment is a reference to the actions the radical leftist Weather Underground Organization. The Weathermen famously staged a series of bombings on government buildings with the aim of overthrowing the U.S. government.
Likewise, the article Jude reads about the deaths of Americans in an explosion is a reference to the accidental explosion of one of the Weathermen's home made bombs, which claimed the lives of three of their members on March 6th 1970.
