For the past few years there’s been an intriguing script floating round Hollywood called Get Back, which landed on the 2007 Black List of the best unproduced screenplays and has since had all manner of people interested. Indeed at one point it was supposed to be Jason Lee’s first feature film directing gig, but that fell by the wayside.
However while three years is a long time for a script to maintain interest in Hollywood without getting made, somehow Get Back’s done it and now it has a new director, with Mean Girls helmer Mark Waters taking the job. Variety reports that he plans to start shooting the comedy in the summer, once post-production and promotion are complete for the Jim Carrey fantasy, Mr Popper’s Penguins.
Get Back is about two music obsessed friends who time travel to London in 1966 in order to prevent John Lennon from ever meeting Yoko Ono, who they blame for breaking up the Beatles.
However many have wondered whether the reason it’s been so difficult to get the movie off the ground is worries about Yoko Ono. She’s known to sue about things she doesn’t like and also controls the use of Lennon’s image, so unless the company behind the project has her permission, they may be treading into tricky territory. This is especially true if they say anything too damaging about Ono (you can say what you want about dead people, but living people can sue for defamation) and is known to be a little tetchy about those who blame her for the breakup of The Beatles. However perhaps the script has found a clever way round this.