Across the Universe (film)

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Across the Universe
Image:Across the universe.jpg Promotional one-sheet
Directed by	Julie Taymor
Produced by	Matthew Gross Jennifer Todd Suzanne Todd
Written by	Julie Taymor Dick Clement Ian La Frenais
Starring	Jim Sturgess Evan Rachel Wood Joe Anderson
Music by	Elliot Goldenthal The Beatles
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	12 October, 2007 (US and UK) 28 November (France) 22 November, 2007 (Germany)[1]
Running time	120 mins.
Language	English
Budget	$45,000,000
IMDb profile

Across the Universe is a musical film made in 2007. It is directed by Julie Taymor and written by Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement. The main characters are played by Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess. There are also other famous actors and singers who appear in the movie: Bono, who plays Dr. Robert, Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite, Dana Fuchs as a musician called Sexy Sadie, and Salma Hayek as a nurse.

The movie was released in North America on 12 October in 2007.^[1]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 Principle 2.2 Cameos 3 Film soundtrack 4 Beatles songs featured in the film 5 Beatles references 5.1 Character names 5.2 Other 6 Production dispute 7 What the critics thought about the film 7.1 Top ten lists 8 Awards and nominations 8.1 Nominations 9 References 10 Other websites

[change] Plot

The story starts in the early 1960s. A young ship builder from Liverpool named Jude (played by Jim Sturgess) travels by ship to the United States in search of his American G.I. father called Wes (Played by Robert Clohessy). He has never met and his father does not know he exists. While looking for his father at Princeton, he makes friends with somebody called Max (Played by Joe Anderson), a rebellious young man from a rich background, and max's sister Lucy (Played by Evan Rachel Wood). Max drops out of college and moves to New York City, Jude goes with him. Max works as a taxi driver, while Jude tries to find work as an independant artist. They become roommates in a bohemian area of the city where they share an apartment with other people, including a woman called Sadie (Played by Dana Fuchs) who is their landlady and who is also trying to become singer. Other people who live in the same house include Jojo (Played by Martin Luther McCoy), a guitarist who arrives from Detroit after the death of his younger brother; and Prudence (Played by T.V. Carpio), a young lesbian who hitchhikes to New York City from Dayton, Ohio. Lucy joins them in the New York flat after her boyfriend is killed in the Vietnam War.

Lucy and Jude begin dating, as well as Sadie and Jojo, which leaves Prudence depressed. When Max is sent to Vietnam, Lucy becomes involved in an extreme anti-war group, which leads to tension with the non-political Jude. He is unhappy with the amount of time she spends with the political group, suspecting that its leader, Paco (Logan Marshall-Green), is a man who obsessively seduces and deceives women. Jude's art and his relationship with Lucy both start to break down. Meanwhile, Sadie has formed a band called Sadie and the Po Boys, with Jojo as her lead guitarist. She gains the attention of a manager (James Urbaniak) who signs her to a record label, but he wants her to drop her backing band. This leads to a break up between Sadie and Jojo, both musically and romantically.

The differences between Jude and Lucy grow. One day, Jude goes into the offices of the political group where Lucy works and is kicked out after punching Paco. This causes to a fight between the couple, resulting in Lucy leaving Jude. Jude finds her at an anti-war demonstration at Columbia University during which many protesters, including Lucy, are arrested. When trying to help her, Jude is also arrested. Though Wes (Jude's Fateher) persuades the police not to take further action for activity at the protest, he cannot prove that Jude is his son, and Jude is sent back to England.

Max is wounded in Vietnam and is emotionally and mentally troubled by his war experience, while Lucy remains involved in her anti-war group that is becoming more and more violent. After Lucy goes to the old headquarters of her anti-war group, she discovers Paco and some of his followers making bombs, She then decides to leave the group. One of Paco's bombs explodes, destroying the building. Jude reads about the explosion in a Liverpool newspaper and is concerned that Lucy has died. He then hears from Max that she is alive, and he arranges to return to the United States fairly and without breaking the law. He meets Max, who drives him to Sadie's music headquarters where a Beatles-style rooftop concert is being held by Jojo, Sadie, and their band singing an anti-war song (Don't let me down). Lucy is supposed to be there to meet Jude again, but no one can find her, and the group is forced to leave when the police arrive, but Jude manages to sneak back onto the roof and begins to sing "All you need is Love", his eyes searching the crowd for Lucy. The rest of the band sneaks back onto the roof too and they join him with their voices and instruments. Jude smiles sadly and turns to leave the roof, but Max suddenly points as they sing, and Jude turns to see Lucy standing on the roof across the street, singing along. They smile at one another with tears in their eyes, and the screen fades out to white clouds and blue sky.

[change] Cast

[change] Principle

• Jim Sturgess as Jude Feeny
• Evan Rachel Wood as Lucy Carrigan
• Joe Anderson as Maxwell "Max" Carrigan
• Dana Fuchs as Sadie
• Martin Luther McCoy as Jojo
• T.V. Carpio as Prudence

[change] Cameos

• Bono as Dr. Robert
• Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite
• Salma Hayek as Singing Nurses
• Joe Cocker as Bum/Pimp/Mad Hippie

[change] Film soundtrack

The film's end credits show that a total of thirty-three separate Beatles songs featured in the film, either in full or in part. All of these songs were written between 1963 and 1970 by the members of The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) and recorded by The Beatles. Thirty of them are songs that are officially credited to the songwriting partnership of Lennon-McCartney. Three are credited to George Harrison. One title ("Flying") is a 1967 songs credited to all four members of the Beatles (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey).

Thirty-one of the soundtrack's songs feature vocals. Two of them ("And I Love Her" and "A Day in the Life") are brief instrumental versions of songs that were originally written with lyrics. One song ("Flying") was originally written as an instrumental.

Twenty-five of the vocal tracks are performed by one or more of the six lead cast members. Four of the songs are sung by stars with cameo roles (Bono, Eddie Izzard, Salma Hayek and Joe Cocker). One song ("Let It Be") is sung by supporting members of the cast. One song ("Blue Jay Way") is sung by indie Texan trio The Secret Machines. In twenty-nine of the vocal tracks, the vocalists are singing on-screen. Two of the vocal tracks ("Blue Jay Way" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") are sung by off-screen vocalists.

The remaining three of the thirty-four songs are rendered instrumentally. "Flying" is performed by The Secret Machines, "And I Love Her" is heard briefly as part of the orchestral score, and "A Day in the Life" is performed on guitar by Jeff Beck in a version recorded for Sir George Martin's 1998 album In My Life.

In addition to the thirty-four Beatles songs, the soundtrack features an original score written by Elliot Goldenthal. Goldenthal worked on Taymor's previous films Titus and Frida. (Goldenthal and director Taymor have also been partners since 1982.)

[change] Beatles songs featured in the film

This is a listing of the thirty-four songs written by members of The Beatles that are heard on the soundtrack, in the order featured in the film. This listing includes notation of three songs that are heard twice in the course of the film, so there are a total of thirty-seven individual music cues.

1. "Girl" Performed by Jim Sturgess
2. "Helter Skelter" Performed by Dana Fuchs (brief extract over film montage - presaging later sequences in the film) Longer version performed later in film.
3. "Hold Me Tight" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood and Lisa Hogg
4. "All My Loving" Performed by Jim Sturgess
5. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" Performed by T.V. Carpio
6. "With a Little Help from My Friends" Performed by Joe Anderson, Jim Sturgess and "Dorm Buddies"
7. "It Won't Be Long" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood and "Students"
8. "I've Just Seen a Face" Performed by Jim Sturgess
9. "Let It Be" Performed by Carol Woods, Timothy T. Mitchum and church choir
10. "Come Together" Performed by Joe Cocker with Martin Luther McCoy performing the final verse
11. "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" Performed by Dana Fuchs
12. "If I Fell" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
13. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Performed by Joe Anderson, "Soldiers", Dana Fuchs and T.V. Carpio
14. "Dear Prudence" Performed by Dana Fuchs, Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood and Joe Anderson
15. "Flying" Instrumental - brief extract performed by The Secret Machines (performers not seen on-screen)
16. "Blue Jay Way" brief extract performed by The Secret Machines (performers not seen on-screen)
17. "I Am the Walrus" Performed by Bono (accompanied by the Secret Machines - not seen on-screen)
18. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" Performed by Eddie Izzard
19. "Because" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, T. V. Carpio and Martin Luther McCoy
20. "Something" Performed by Jim Sturgess
21. "Oh! Darling" Performed by Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy
22. "Strawberry Fields Forever" Performed by Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson
23. "Revolution" Performed by Jim Sturgess
24. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Performed by Martin Luther McCoy (joined by Jim Sturgess for one verse)
25. "Across the Universe" Performed by Jim Sturgess (the performance of this song is interwoven with the next song Helter Skelter)
26. "Helter Skelter" Performed by Dana Fuchs (the performance of this song is interwoven with the preceding song Across the Universe)
27. "And I Love Her" (brief extract incorporated into the orchestral score during the 'Across the Universe/Helter Skelter sequence)
28. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Performed by Joe Anderson, "Patients" and Salma Hayek
29. "Revolution" Brief extract performed by Evan Rachel Wood
30. "A Day in the Life" Performed by Jeff Beck (instrumental version of the song recorded in 1998 for George Martin's In My Life album)
31. "Blackbird" Performed by Evan Rachel Wood
32. "Hey Jude" Performed by Joe Anderson (joined by Angela Mounsey for one verse)
33. "Don't Let Me Down" Performed by Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy
34. "All You Need is Love" Performed by Jim Sturgess, Dana Fuchs, T.V. Carpio and Martin Luther McCoy
35. "She Loves You" Performed by Joe Anderson (chorus sung during the last part of the "All You Need Is Love" sequence) (see note below)
36. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" Performed by Bono (with backing vocals by The Edge), played over the beginning of the end credit sequence (performance not seen on-screen)
37. "Flying" Instrumental - extended version performed by The Secret Machines played over the latter portion of the end credit sequence (performers not seen on-screen)

[change] Beatles references

In addition to the 34 Beatles songs used in the movie, there are multiple references in the film to Beatles lyrics and folklore.

[change] Character names

The names of the principal characters - and several of the secondary roles - are derived from names in the titles or lyrics of Beatles songs.

• Jude - "Hey Jude"
• Lucy - "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Am The Walrus"
• Max - "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
• Sadie - "Sexy Sadie"
• Jojo - "Get Back"
• Prudence - "Dear Prudence"
• Dr. Robert - "Doctor Robert"
• Mr. Kite - "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
• Daniel (Lucy's American boyfriend) - "Rocky Raccoon"
• Bill (Sadie's Manager) - "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
• Molly (Jude's English girlfriend) - "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
• Pam (Desmond's coworker) - "Polythene Pam"
• Martha (Jude's mother) - "Martha My Dear"
• Julia (Lucy and Max's sister) - "Julia"
• Teddy (Max and Lucy's Uncle) - "Teddy Boy"

[change] Other

The title is taken from the Beatles song "Across the Universe", the "O" in "Across" is shown as a strawberry on the key-art advertising the film - a reference to the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever."

The line "Out Of college/money spent/see no future/pay no rent" from You Never Give Me Your Money is referenced when Max moves from college to New York and rents an apartment from Sadie but seems never to pay rent.

The Liverpool club seen during the UK part of the Hold Me Tight sequence was filmed in the reconstituted Cavern Club in Liverpool. The band in the film are in similar stage set-up to the footage of the Beatles seen in the 1962 archive footage of the group performing the song "Some Other Guy" at the Cavern Club.

An elderly shipyard employee who gives Jude his paycheck says, "I told myself, 'When I'm sixty-four'..." a reference to the song "When I'm Sixty-Four"

When we first meet Prudence, at the high school football practice, the team and cheerleaders wear uniforms of yellow and green, a visual reference to the lyrics from "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds": Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over your head").

In the scene in the alley in which Jude and Molly are seen kissing, as well as in the scene in front of the shipyard, the settings and camera angle appear to be similar to that used in the music video for The Beatles' "Free as a Bird"

At college, Max generally causes trouble. This is a reference to the song lyrics, "Back in school again/Maxwell plays the fool again", from the song which gives Max his name "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"

The poster of French actress/model Brigitte Bardot in Max's dorm room is identical to one owned by and displayed in one of the homes of John Lennon.

Seen in Lucy's room, next to the mirror, is an early photo of George Harrison and John Lennon.

When Max and Jude first see their new apartment, Sadie comments that Max seems harmless, but could have murdered his grandmother with a hammer, and in another scene Max is shown holding a hammer, both references to the song that inspired Max's name, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer".

The character of Jojo may be inspired by Billy Preston, a musician who worked with the Beatles during the Get Back sessions.

The Acoustic guitar that appears onstage when Sadie is performing resembles the Epiphone EJ-160E guitar John Lennon Acoustic-Electric which he used during the early Beatle days.

During Sadie's performance of "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?", Jude shouts out the words "Sexy, Sadie" - the title of the song from which her name is taken.

When Prudence climbs in through the window into the apartment, Jude says to her, "Hello, hello," a reference to the song “Hello Goodbye". A short time later, Sadie asks where she came from, to which Jude replies, "She came in through the bathroom window." This is a reference to the Beatles song, "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window".

When Jude, Lucy, and Max are at the party for Doctor Robert (played by Bono) they are seen drinking from a bowl of unknown liquid. This is a reference to the lyric, "Take a drink from his special cup, Doctor Robert" from the Beatles song "Doctor Robert"

During the psychedelic bus trip with Dr. Robert, there is a man seen typing on a typewriter. This is a reference to the Beatles song "Paperback Writer."

There is a band dressed in Sgt. Pepper-style costumes before and during the "Mr. Kite" scene.

Sadie's record company is called "Strawberry Jamz." This is a play on the Beatles company "Apple Corps."

Apple Records, the company founded by the Beatles in 1968, is obliquely referenced when Jude is trying to draw a green apple, then slices it in half and tries to draw it again, thus producing the two images used for that company's record labels.

The instrumental for "A Day in the Life" is playing as Jude, in Liverpool, reads the newspaper article about the bomb blast, thus referencing the line, "I read the news today, oh, boy."

As the movie ends, Lucy's face dissolves into the sky, as the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is heard, performed by Bono, over the end credit sequence.

Another idea from the movie that was not used was the idea of Sadie owning a cat with a "raccoon-like tail" named Rocky, an obvious reference to the song "Rocky Raccoon." Although the cat is seen when Max and Jude go to rent the rooms from Sadie, and both Jude and Max look directly at the cat, it is not mentioned later in the film.

The Bus of Dr. Robert call Blue Bird (seen near the door of the bus). Blue Bird is a McCartney Song from the album "Band on the run"

[change] Production dispute

In March 2007, the media reported a dispute over the final cut of the film. Concerned with the length of director Julie Taymor's cut of the film, Revolution Studios (production studio) chairman Joe Roth tested a sneak preview of a shortened version without first informing Taymor. The incident caused a quarel between the two, later involving Sony Pictures (distributor) Amy Pascal urging Taymor to agree to the shorter version.^[2][3][4] After several months of dispute, Taymor's version was eventually reinstated as the theatrically released version.^[5]

[change] What the critics thought about the film

The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of January 6, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 52% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 130 reviews. However, the film is currently at 80% with the Rotten Tomatoes community.^[6] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 56 out of 100, based on 29 reviews.^[7]

[change] Top ten lists

The film appeared on a few critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.^[8]

• 1st - Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer
• 7th - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times^[9]
• 9th - Stephen Holden, The New York Times

[change] Awards and nominations

[change] Nominations

• 65th Golden Globe Awards^[10]
  • Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
• 80th Academy Awards
  • Costume Design
• 50th Grammy Awards
  • Best Compilation Soundtrack Album

[change] References

[change] Other websites

• Across the Universe at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
• Across the Universe at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official website - with trailer
• Article on filming in the Lower East Side
• Promotional pictures
• Pictures from the shoot on Flickr.
• Next Subway Stop: Hollywood, New York Times, January 8, 2006
• Article about editing controversy New York Times, March 20, 2007
• 3 trailers and a clip from the movie