CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - Martin Scorsese says he hopes to release his George Harrison documentary next year, and is promising plenty of unseen footage and unheard songs.

He has been developing the project with the former Beatle's widow, Olivia, for the past three years, even while he was working on his recent thriller "Shutter Island."

Titled "Living in the Material World: George Harrison," the documentary will take on the whole of Harrison's life before, during and after his time in the world's most popular and successful band.

Among other things, Scorsese says he related to Harrison's quest for "spirituality," something the filmmaker has explored his whole life, and especially in movies from "Mean Streets" to "Kundun."

"That subject matter has never left me," said Scorsese. "The more you're in the material world, the more there is a tendency for a search for serenity and a need to not be distracted by physical elements that are around you."

"He always said he gave his nervous system for the Beatles," Olivia Harrison added.

Scorsese met Harrison several times, first when he, Jack Nicholson and Robbie Robertson knocked on his door in a frantic moment during the filming of "The Last Waltz" in the late '70s, and then again in the early '90s.

Olivia initiated the current project several years ago because after having been approached by numerous production companies, including the BBC, looking to make a documentary about Harrison from the moment he died of cancer in 2001. She resisted at first because Harrison had always wanted to do his own documentary using his own archive of videos.

Eventually, she realized it "was something that needed to be done," and was pointed to financier Nigel Sinclair, who had produced the Bob Dylan documentary "No Direction Home" that Scorsese directed. But still, it was a traumatic experience for her to dig back through all of that history.

"This is a deeply personal journey for me, it's been excruciating," she said. "I've been archiving for five years -- 35 years, really. Throwing cassettes and letters in drawers, little things and pieces of paper that you find that say, 'Goats on my roof.' You think, What does that mean?"

She said that during the research period, Scorsese would ask for something from 1945, she would dig something up, and then get lost in old letters, drawings, ideas and reveries. Or she'd come across a lost cassette from 1966 with music she had never heard.

"So that's been wonderful, but emotional, too," Olivia said. "But I feel really safe, I feel protected. Marty had a connection with George, and they spent time together. And he's passionate about film and music as George was passionate about music and film."

"This is undertaken, not casually," Scorsese said. "It's a great deal of reticence and thinking."

And juggling, since the director was working on it as he developed and shot "Shutter Island." His editor on the Dylan doc, David Tedeschi, has been working on the Harrison piece as well, and would forge ahead when Scorsese was indisposed on the fiction film. Scorsese noted that their work on the Dylan film stretched from "The Aviator" through to "The Departed."

"'Shutter Island' took a great deal out of me," Scorsese said. "This was a form of interest and a really good sense of ignorance -- not knowing what you're getting into. I know the level is deep, and I know at some point there's going to be conflicts between the projects. But this is a labour of love, it's not something that has that kind of a deadline."

So Scorsese spent weekends and margins looking at footage and cuts of the Harrison work, and doing research.

The film will feature plenty of rare footage since Harrison saved everything and left a ton of material. Scorsese said all of that personal music led the way to the nonchronological exploration they wanted to take.

"Ultimately, we're trying to have the development of his own music tell the story, if we can," he said. "And the images that he shot, that (Olivia) shot, a lot of this is telling the story. There are some famous bits and some very interesting new material."

Olivia added: "I think it's not only about George Harrison, but about how a person moves through life and deals with his own life. And it was a pretty intense life for a young person."

In addition to his achievements as a master filmmaker and preservationist, Scorsese has now made a number of films -- "Shine a Light," "Last Waltz," "No Direction Home," "The Blues" (he was even an editor on the "Woodstock" concert film) -- that he is personally building a library of the history of rock.
"We certainly haven't done it intentionally," Scorsese says. "We never really intended to make a chronicle of rock music. But the music inspires so much of what I do with my fiction films that they both seem to be blending now. They seem to be interweaving."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/entertainm ... ison-film/

I'm looking forward to this. I'm a big Beatles/George Harrison fan. I hope Jeff Lynne get's interviewed. I'd like to hear what he has to say about the making of George's Cloud 9 CD.

I'm all over this one.

I recently heard "Living In The Material World" for the first time. Teriffic album. Seems that as I've aged, my appreciation for George's solo stuff has increased along with my indifference to John and Paul's solo stuff. Maybe I'll pick up "All Things Must Pass" one of these days.

You'll really love All Things Must Pass, I think. It's George's best solo CD (IMHO) and one of the very best records by any of the Beatles as far as solo stuff is concerned.

I'm really looking forward to this. Mr. Scorsese's obvious track record makes me confident that George Harrison's legacy will get the treatment it (he) deserves(d).

This is not going to be released theatrically?? Just HBO??

George Harrison documentary with "exclusive CD of previously unheard tracks":

http://www.georgeharrison.com/

Looking forward to the new documentary. Wondering what the CD might be.

Unless I've missed another reference, the only mention of an exclusive CD is this:

"Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK announced that it will be releasing the film in the UK on 10th October 2011 in three editions – DVD, Blu-ray and DVD Double play (DVD/ BD combi pack), and a beautifully packaged DVD / Blu-Ray Deluxe Edition, which includes an exclusive CD of previously unheard tracks from George Harrison, and a book of photography to accompany the film."

Once again music fans are being royally f*cked over by being forced to buy large amounts of extraneous - and undoubtedly expensive - material to get what they want. I haven't the slightest expectation that the the US situation will be any better than that in the UK.

100% agree. Its a trend I am begining to find far excessive & very expensive for a handful of songs we don't have.

George Harrison - Living in the Material World (Deluxe Edition) [Blu-ray]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005FPT2E0/?tag=imwan-21

If you haven't seen the promo "trailer" for the HBO airings, here you go:

http://tv.yahoo.com/george-harrison-liv ... s/26359948

Going to SAG tomorrow night in Beverly Hills for the advance screening. I'm very excited to see this feature, and also to see who shows up. I hope it's a well-balanced portrait of the man, and that Jeff "Lord, I wish I was a Beatle" Lynne only receives a small modicum of airtime.

That's Jeff "I staged Harrison's biggest comeback" Lynne.

'George Harrison: Living in the Material World'

Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Correspondent
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1LB1AV.DTL



The portrait of George Harrison that emerges from the new Martin Scorsese documentary, "George Harrison: Living in the Material World," airing in two parts Wednesday and Thursday on HBO, is a convoluted mass of contradictory characteristics, with a little Vaseline on the lens to blur some of the less comfortably explained pieces of the story.

Composed of extraordinary source footage, most entirely unseen before, that combines newsreels, U.S. and British television shows, home movies and hundreds of rare photographs blended with the requisite talking-head interviews - both new and old - the 3 1/2-hour rockumentary follows Harrison through the now familiar tale of the rise of the Beatles - a story virtually as well known these days as the New Testament - with the first program reaching its climactic epiphany with Eric Clapton's guitar solo on the Beatles' recording of Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

Lacking the substantial body of musical work that Scorsese and his documentary crew had to work with on "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan," the filmmakers turned to Harrison's personal journey for their narrative. The first half, which is largely a rehash of well-worn material that fails to parse Harrison's viewpoint and repeats several key anecdotes from the "Anthology" interviews, should have set up a poignant and even possibly profound second half.

The second portion opens with the acrimonious breakup of the Beatles, vividly reflected in footage from the 1970 documentary "Let It Be" that captures Harrison and bandmate Paul McCartney arguing in the studio, and quickly loses all narrative drive as the film meanders through the last 30 years of Harrison's life in a vague, undisciplined and ultimately unrewarding attempt at examining Harrison's search for meaning in life.

The film only pretends to be candid. Ex-wife Patti Boyd, who famously left her husband for his best friend Clapton, sat for an interview, but when it comes time to discuss the breakup, she recites on voiceover purple prose from her ghastly 2007 memoir, "Wonderful Tonight." Although his widow, Olivia Harrison, gives a graphic, blood-chilling account of the near-fatal knife attack on Harrison and his wife in their home on Dec. 30, 1999, the name of the assailant (Michael Abram) is never mentioned, nor the fact that he was released from mental institutions only 19 months after confessing to the assault.

Many things go unexplained and film footage is not identified. Dates are not provided. The story loses all signposts through the second half. The filmmakers don't even bother to track the sporadic, indifferent solo recordings that followed the 1970 masterpiece "All Things Must Pass."

After the Bangla Desh benefit at Madison Square Garden in 1971 and the subsequent disastrous 1974 U.S. tour, the narrative falls into a blurry jumble of talking heads and travelogue, only rescued by Tom Petty's warm and witty recollections of the Traveling Wilburys, an all-star group Harrison put together in 1988, a kind of poker circle rock group that included Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and Petty. But "Living in the Material World" is more about Harrison's inner life than his musical work.

Although his friends and associates uniformly describe Harrison as someone who restlessly searched for peace, but who also had a dark and angry side, the roots of that anger are never explored. His two older brothers make brief appearances, but little is mentioned about his family background, such as the sister who moved to America or young Harrison's pre-Beatles trip to the U.S.

Harrison was a spiritual seeker who could also be interested in money (he is the composer of "Taxman" and makes a lovely crack about the queen's wealth in vintage film footage). His relations with women outside his marriages are mentioned, almost only in passing. His Hindu religious associates speak, but so does British racing driver Jackie Stewart, who takes up a lot of airtime talking about their friendship over footage of Harrison driving around racetracks.

More penetrating are the recollections of his mates from Monty Python, the British comedy troupe whose movies Harrison produced, Terry Gilliam and Eric Idle, who say that Harrison enjoyed working on the collaborative movies because he missed being part of a group.

The filmmakers' access to material enables them to show photographs of Harrison in his early visits to America with a camera around his neck, as well as showing the photographs he took. They also include a quick but chilling photo of smiling 14-year-old George, cheerfully puffing the cigarettes that would kill him at age 58 in 2001. The documentary features previously unseen archival film footage of the Beatles, unreleased alternate takes to well-known recordings and surprising new images of the group, which hardly seems possible after all the previous documentaries and books, including a 10-hour home video edition of "The Beatles Anthology."

George was many discriminating fans' favorite Beatle. He loved ukuleles and could roll joints with one hand. The Traveling Wilburys records sound like classics all these years later. He was clearly a decent guy who struggled to make his way through his life of wealth and fame. "People say I'm the Beatle who changed the most," he says in an undated interview probably from the '70s, "but that's what I think life is about."

But it is his bandmate Ringo Starr who offers the show's true benediction, after breaking into tears recalling the last time he saw his dying friend. "What is this?" Ringo says, looking straight into the camera. "F- Barbara Walters?"

I enjoyed the first half, but have to agree to a good extent with the review. The idea that they are going to bum-rush the post White Album to the end in one more episode seems a disservice. I was thinking they could have done 3 episodes and then flush things out a bit more. The fact that the only reference to Taxman was at the beginning was unbelievable. But great images and well put together. The use of the music was excellent.

Perhaps it's unfair to react before having seen the second 'half' of the film, but so far it seems like they could have done this in about half the time they've taken. Yes, the footage is great, but frankly there's nothing new so far -- this could have been excerpted from 'Anthology' or any of a multitude of other Beatles documentaries, good and bad. I just don't get a sense of this even being much about George yet. If the 1:45 is really just being used to establish the situation when George started his solo career, it could - as I noted - have been done in 45 minutes or less. The Beatles' story really doesn't need to be retold except to people who've very recently arrived from Mars.

I'd agree with that - although I do find some of the Beatles years interesting from the perspective of Eric and Ms. Evans...more of George's angle would be helpful. I also feel if they presenting more as it relates to his contributions and that dynamic...while nothing new it could be refreshing as the emphasis has been John and Paul so often. Irregardless of George's earlier lesser efforts, they are good songs. The India aspect, while known, is presented in the same-ol' same-ol....since its impact was so much much more profound on George there could be more to it...
But as it is now...I was much more interested in post years...and we'll burn through 15 minute min before the break-up...so missed opportunity I am betting...I will watch it irregardless.