LOS ANGELES, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Interscope Records) - Visionary writer-director
Julie Taymor (Frida, Titus, Broadway's The Lion King) and co-writers Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais (The Commitments) bring the 1960s to life with Across the Universe. On
September 18, Interscope Records will release the Across The Universe-Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, Revolution Studios' Across the Universe is a groundbreaking movie musical that brings together an original story and 33 revolutionary songs - including "Hey Jude," "I Am the Walrus," and "All You Need is Love" - that defined a generation.
A love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n roll, the film moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam. The star-crossed lovers, Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with "Dr. Robert" (Bono) and "Mr. Kite" (Eddie Izzard) as their guides. Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy - against all odds - to find their own way back to each other.
The film's creators drew their inspiration for the characters from the songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney, as well as by George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Unlike most musicals where the story comes first then songs are inserted, the songs themselves defined the characters and shaped the plot.
"It was a tremendous challenge and privilege to create an original movie musical using the Beatles' songs as inspiration for the story," said Taymor.
Academy Award(R)-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal (Frida, Drugstore Cowboy, Interview With a Vampire) wrote the score to the film and produced and rearranged the songs along with Grammy(TM) winner T Bone Burnett (O Brother Where Art Thou?, Walk the Line) and Teese Gohl, who has worked with Goldenthal as a music producer on more than 20 films.
Interscope Records will be releasing the Across The Universe film soundtrack. Featured on the soundtrack are 16 songs, including Joe Cocker singing "Come Together," Evan Rachel Wood singing "Blackbird," and Bono performing "I Am the Walrus" and the end title track "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
Also featured on the album are cast performances of "All My Loving," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "It Won't Be Long," "I've Just Seen A Face," "Let It Be," "Something," "Oh Darling," "Across the Universe," "Helter Skelter," "Strawberry Fields," "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," and "Hey Jude."
"The entire concept of this musical," Taymor describes, "is that the lyrics will tell the story. They are the libretto, they are the arias, they are the emotion of the characters."
To give the music authenticity, the team recorded many of the songs using period appropriate equipment, such as analog tape and vintage microphones. Gohl recalls, "We were all on the same page in taking this approach and in our desire to avoid the digital pitfalls."
"With this material, everybody knows it so well," Goldenthal explains. "So the challenge was try to find an honest way - staying within oneself - of getting to the core of these songs and try to find other ways to support the beautiful words and music."
Revolution Studios presents a Matthew Gross/Team Todd production, a film by Julie Taymor, Across the Universe will be in select theaters on September 14, 2007. The Across The Universe - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be released by Interscope Records on September 18, 2007.
