Ron Howard Earns His Beatles Wig; `Da Vinci Code' Director To Chronicle The Beatles Live Career in New Documentary [VIDEO]

Ron Howard will chronicle The Beatles live years in authorized documentary.

The Beatles started off as a wild, leather-clad, north of England stage act who Liverpudlians, or Lever Pullers, if you watch Yellow Submarine, thought came from Hamburg, Germany. The Beatles cursed and smoked on stage before Brian Epstein put them in matching.

Ron Howard has been a Beatle fan since he turned 10 years old, weeks after the Beatles changed history on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

"After I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, all I wanted after that was a Beatles wig. My parents said no but then they gave me one for my 10th birthday," Howard said.

The star of Happy Days and The Andy Griffith Show went on to direct such classic films as "Splash," "Cocoon," and the movie versions of Dan Brown's works.

Howard will direct an authorized documentary on The Beatles touring years between 1960 and 1966. The film will be produced by Howard's Imagine Entertainment  in conjunction with Apple Corps Ltd., White Horse Pictures and the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.

The Beatles live documentary will follow the band from Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, through their rising invasion of America and up to their last live show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966. Between 1960 and 1966, The Beatles gave 166 concerts in 15 countries and 90 cities around the world.

In making the announcement, Howard said "I am excited and honored to be working with Apple and the White Horse team on this astounding story of these four young men who stormed the world in 1964. Their impact on popular culture and the human experience cannot be exaggerated."

"What's so intriguing to me is not only the subject, but the context we can bring to it now," Howard continued. "Not only can we do a study of these touring years, the narrative of an odyssey, we can look at the significance of the Beatles as individuals -- as musical geniuses, as societal leaders and their effect on global culture. Dramatically it makes a lot of sense and cinematically, we have a chance to offer a unique experience."

White Horse's Nigel Sinclair, who helped out on Martin Scorsese's Emmy-winning  George Harrison: Living in the Material World," and Grammy-winning No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, as well as musical docs Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who, The Last Play At Shea and Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, will be pouring over concert footage, pro and fan-shot home movies.

"If we find a performance that's particularly good, say in Cleveland in 1964, and have been able to find the sound with separated tracks, that's something that will add a whole new dimension," said Sinclair.

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Ron Howard
The Beatles
the beatles documentary
the beatles live
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