Sophia Michaels
Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles music career will be the focus of an upcoming documentary directed by Morgan Neville.
The tentatively titled Man on the Run, “the definitive document of Paul’s emergence from the dissolution of the world’s biggest band and his triumphant creation of a second decade of musical milestones — a brilliant and prolific stretch,” was announced at a pre-Grammy Universal Music Group party Saturday night; UMG’s television arm Polygram Entertainment will also produce the documentary, a teaser for which was shown at the event.
According to theHollywood Reporter, the film was given access to never-before-seen material from McCartney’s own archives, as well as features new interviews with the legendary singer and his collaborators.
Man on the Run is the latest music-related documentary from Neville, who previously directed the Oscar-winning 20 Feet From Stardom, Keith Richards: Under the Influence and the upcoming Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, With Dave Letterman. The documentarian also recently crafted the Mr. Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, and the Orson Welles doc They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead.
“I was too young to buy Beatles records when they came out, but I could buy Wings records, and I loved them,” Neville said of Man on the Run (via THR).
To me, the story of what happened to Paul in the wake of The Beatles when he had to rediscover himself is the story that has never been told. When Universal and Michele [Anthony, UMG Executive Vice President] called me about this, it took me about three seconds to say I have to do this. It’s the kind of thing I think I’ve been training for since I was 10 years old.”
Anthony added of the documentary, “How do you rediscover yourself after being in the biggest band the world has ever known? Well, until the breakup of The Beatles, no one had ever had to answer that question. At its heart, it’s a story of Linda and Paul’s enduring love as he finds his own voice as an artist, resulting in one of the most creative periods of his life.”
No release date or release method (either streaming or theatrical) has yet been announced for Man on the Run, which could undergo a title change before its arrival.
