The Beatles perform their first show under the name at the Indra Club in Hamburg, Germany. Over the following months, they play a series of grueling gigs at various spots in Hamburg. In December George is deported because of his age and Paul McCartney and Pete Best are kicked out of the country for pinning a condom to a wall and lighting it on fire. The band heads back to Liverpool.
The next year, they return to Hamburg and begin playing as Tony Sheridan's backing band. Meanwhile, The Beatles appearance in "Mersey Beat" magazine catches the eye of Brian Epstien, who is working at one of his family's music stores in London, after having tried and failed at many careers. He goes to see them at the Cavern Club on several occasions and finally offers to manage them in December. He immediately begins reforming the band's wild and unkempt image, while trying endlessly to land them a record contract.
At the beginning of another stay in Hamburg, the group is informed of Stuart Sutcliffe's death from a brain hemorrhage. After being rejected countless times, they finally sign a deal with small EMI label Parlophone. Producer George Martin suggests that they fire Pete Best, perceived as the weakest part of the band. The group asks Rory Storm and the Hurricanes drummer Ringo Starr to join the band and he accepts.
John's girlfriend, Cynthia, learns she is pregnant. Though Lennon has abused her in the past and their relationship is far from perfect, they decide to marry. The marriage is kept a secret from the public. Paul intends to marry his girlfriend, also pregnant, in the summer, but she miscarries and their relationship falls apart.
In Manchester, the Beatles make their first television appearance and in several months time they release their first album,
Please Please Me. The album is an immediate success and The Beatles quickly garner a horde of teenage fans. The Beatles are not exported to America until December of 1963, where fame comes just as quickly as it did in the U.K. In February of 1964, they travel to the United States as a group for the first time.
The Beatles arrive in New York to massive fanfare. Two days later, they perform on the Ed Sullivan Show and two days after that, they perform their first American concert. Though they are welcomed by young fans, the media is quick to dismiss them as a fad. In August of that year, journalist Al Aronowitz introduces the Beatles to Bob Dylan, and Dylan introduces the Beatles to marijuana. The band stars in two successful films, "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!". Ringo gets married and begins a family in 1965, once again to the dismay of Brian Epstein. George is married in early '66.
The Beatles tour the rest of the world and continue to record, culminating in a concert for over 55,000 people in New York and the release of
Rubber Soul at the end of 1965. For the first time, the group is given total creative control over their music and the result is a massive advancement in the band's maturity and talent.
With fame comes trouble, particularly for John. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, he becomes depressed and puts on weight. In 1966, he causes a huge backlash when he criticizes Christianity. He later apologizes.
The highly ambitious
Revolver is released in August of 1966. That same month, The Beatles perform their last real concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco and resolve to focus their efforts solely on recording. Meanwhile, John meets Yoko Ono at the Indica Gallery in London.
The Beatles start recording their next album that same year. Paul meets photographer Linda Eastman in May of 1967.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released to once again excellent reviews that summer and The Beatles perform "All You Need Is Love" via satellite in front of 400 million viewers.
Brian is found dead in his apartment after accidentally overdosing on prescription drugs. The band is in shock. Their UK TV special later that year is a disaster and the group heads to India to study meditation.
They begin recording their self-titled album (The White Album) in the summer of 1968. The sessions are fraught with tension, with pressures relating to personal and business issues keeping everyone on edge. Ringo walks out on the band briefly in August, during the recording of "Back In the USSR".
John begins a musical and romantic relationship with Yoko Ono, openly cheating on Cynthia. When she learns of this, she files for divorce. Yoko's constant presence during the recording of The White Album is another source of problems. Another problem is the rest of the band's refusal to acknowledge George as a serious songwriter.
The White Album is released in November. The album's style clearly reflects how disjointed the band has become. On the first day of 1969, The Beatles begin recording their next album while being followed by a film crew for what would later become "Let It Be". The tension from the recording of The White Album continues on and George leaves the band for a week in January. The group famously performs on the roof of the Apple Building at the end of the month.
Paul and John both get married to their respective girlfriends in March. John focuses even more on recording with Yoko. Though it would later be salvaged by Phil Spector and released as
Let It Be, The Beatles abandon the January sessions and pull together once more, at this point knowing that they're about to break up.
They spend the summer of 1969 recording
Abbey Road. While recording "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" in August, The Beatles work together in the studio for the last time ever as a complete group.
Some notes: I envision "A Day In the Life" as being done in a sort of documentary style. Yes, I know it's overused nowadays and yes, I know it would look a lot like "Let It Be" but I think that with all the sentimentality attached to The Beatles, a biopic could very easily become very corny. I want a fly on the wall perspective in order to portray things objectively and let the natural drama come out.
The film would only cover the events detailed and would ignore everything past when The Beatles stopped recording with each other. That's a story for somewhere else.
Thank you to marvelman for his brilliant casting. I love having mostly actual musicians in the roles, even though I would prefer to use as much of the original music as possible. (As opposed to people trying to do imitations.) The supporting cast was not easy to put together, but I'm happy with what I've got. The only choice that I feel I need to explain is Bai Ling: Unfortunately, other than what's-her-face from Grey's Anatomy, Hollywood doesn't seem to care for any Asian woman who doesn't look like a supermodel or a cute schoolgirl. Bai Ling may not strike you as an obvious choice for Yoko Ono, but I think she has similar features and would just have to go all Charlize Theron in "Monster" on it and "ugly" herself up a bit.