Lennon Naked (TV 2010)

A profile of John Lennon in the late 1960s as the Beatles are set to fall apart.

Director:

Edmund Coulthard

Writer:

Robert Jones

Stars:

Christopher Eccleston, Christopher Fairbank, Allan Corduner

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Eccleston	...	John Lennon
Christopher Fairbank	...	Freddie Lennon
Allan Corduner	...	Art Janov
Andrew Scott	...	Paul McCartney
Naoko Mori	...	Yoko Ono
Michael Colgan	...	Derek Taylor
Craig Cheetham	...	Ringo Starr
Jack Morgan	...	George Harrison
Claudie Blakley	...	Cynthia Lennon
Rory Kinnear	...	Brian Epstein
Adrian Bower	...	Pete Shotton
Di Botcher	...	Dot
Eileen O'Brien	...	Lil
Debora Weston	...	Gloria Emerson
Dave Legeno	...	Les

Storyline

In 1964 a reluctant John Lennon is persuaded by manager Brian Epstein to meet Freddie, the father who abandoned him 17 years earlier, with the press in attendance. The meeting is short and bitter. Three years later Epstein is dead and John invites Freddie to his mansion but again things turn sour, due to Freddie's drinking and insulting Mimi, the aunt who raised John. The Beatles set up Apple records but the press are hostile and Lennon's comment that 'we're more popular than Jesus' doesn't help. Rows with long-suffering wife Cynthia lead to marital breakdown and John's meeting Japanese performance artist Yoko Ono. Family history is repeated as Lennon leaves Cynthia and their son Julian for Ono, by whom he has a second son, Sean. In 1969 John returns his M.B.E. in protest at England's support for the Vietnam War while his stunts with Yoko Ono to promote peace alienate the press. Some months later he disbands the Beatles to the other members' annoyance and, after arguments with Paul ...

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Plot Keywords:

yoko ono | the beatles | john lennon | england | manager | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 November 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Essere John Lennon

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blast! Films, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christopher Eccleston was 46 at the time of filming, playing John Lennon in his late twenties.

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Goofs

Towards the end, John and Yoko are shown boarding a jet airplane bound for New York, the date is given as 1971. They are seen boarding a Boeing 747-400 with it's distinctive extended upper deck. This aircraft was not introduced by Boeing until 1988.

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Crazy Credits

Disclaimer in opening titles: "The following drama is based on real events, although some scenes are the invention of the writer."

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Connections

Featured in The Wright Stuff: Episode #13.55 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Sonny Boy"
Written by Buddy G. DeSylva (as Buddy DeSylva), Lew Brown and Ray Henderson
Performed by Christopher Fairbank
Later heard in a recording by Al Jolson

User Reviews

Where was the 'lovely guy' that Paul knew ?

John Lennon comes over in this film as overbearing, callous, uncaring, rude, acerbic, immature, self obsessed, in fact its hard to see any redeeming features in the character who stars here. Whilst we (the fans) all know that John could sometimes lean towards the above we also know that he had a very funny, caring and deeply intuitive side as well, I've lost count of the number of times I've heard Paul or Ringo say 'John was a lovely guy'. Well Im sorry but the John portrayed here was anything but. Make your own mind up about how far down the road of character assassination Lennon Naked goes. As far as being factual with the events of this period of Lennon's and The Beatles a lot of the events I have read about before and assume to be fact,although I suspect it only vaguely represents the actual truth, but then, only the people present in the rooms would know for sure. Overall I didn't like it, I thought Eccleston, who although credible, was too old for the part and this distracted from the reality overall. If your at all a Lennon fan, I wouldn't recommend it, way too one dimensional in its approach of portraying John Lennon for me, although you might think I am biased being a fan, I have tried to look at it objectively though, Id be very interested to know what Cynthia thinks of it.