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23 Jan 2026 8:53
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  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Peter Jackson says the late John Lennon and George Harrison attempted to have their private conversations muted out by strumming their guitars and turning up their amps while being filmed in the studio

    The 'Lord of the Rings' filmmaker helmed 'The Beatles: Get Back', a three-part Disney+ documentary, which charts the making of the Beatles' 1970 album 'Let It Be', which had the working title of 'Get Back', and features footage originally captured by Michael Lindsay-Hogg for the documentary of the album


    However, Jackson was able to cheekily use technology to turn down their instruments to make their chatter audible.

    The 60-year-old director confessed: “It’s a little bit naughty."

    Jackson recalled: “We came to realise that John [Lennon] and George [Harrison] in particular were very aware that their private conversations were being taped.

    “Michael hid microphones everywhere to try and capture candid conversations. But what John and George used to do was turn their amps up loud and strum their guitars – not playing anything – so that’s all Michael’s microphones were recording. They were in this sort of running battle.”

    The iconic Fab Four - which also included surviving members Sir Paul McCartney, 79, and Sir Ringo Starr, 81 - were tasked with recording, writing, rehearsing, and performing the songs live in just two weeks, and tensions were showing among the bandmates at Twickenham Studios.

    Jackson shared McCartney's reaction to his cut and how they didn't want it to be "sanitised".

    He added to The Independent newspaper: “Paul actually said to me when he saw it, ‘That’s a very accurate portrait of how we were then.'

    “I get the feeling there’s no concern about their image anymore."

    Jackson insisted: “I tried to portray them as I was seeing them.

    “[And] the band themselves didn’t want a whitewash. They didn’t want it sanitised.”

    The 'Hey Jude' hitmakers met their demise in 1970.

    And McCartney recently denied he was the band member who "instigated"

    the legendary Liverpool group's split and insisted it was the late Lennon - who was tragically murdered aged 40 in 1980 - who was behind their decision to call it a day.

    He said: “I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny.

    “This was my band, this was my job, this was my life, so I wanted it to continue.”

    On the speculation that was rife at the time that their breakup was his doing, the music legend insisted: “I had to live with that because that was what people saw. All I could do is say, ‘no’.”

    “I am not the person who instigated the split.

    “Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles. Is that instigating the split, or not?”

    © 2026 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

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