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Anniversary of A Hard Day's Night

03/02/2011
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(Gibson) With Beatlemania running rampant in both Britain and America and spreading rapidly to other countries, The Beatles were riding high in early 1964. Having scored a couple of #1 albums and an armload of #1 singles, the Fab Four had properly conquered the music world and were set to make their mark in another medium. On this day in 1964, The Beatles began filming A Hard Day's Night.

Although John, Paul, George and Ringo had become huge pop stars, the movie didn't have a lavish budget. Shot in black-and-white, A Hard Day's Night was made for the relatively small sum of �200,000 (around $500,000). Both the writer and the director of the film had been selected because The Beatles had been fans of their previous work. Director Richard Lester had made The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers � each of whom the boys loved. Meanwhile, writer Alun Owen had proven he could pen his share of Liverpudlian dialog in his play No Trams to Lime Street.

To get a sense for how Lennon, McCartney and the guys talked to each other and to outsiders, Owen spent a few days with The Beatles as they sprinted through their busy schedule. He described the experience as "a train and a room and a car and a room and a room and a room," a line that would make it into the screenplay. McCartney would later praise Owen's work: "Alun hung around with us and was careful to try and put words in our mouths that he might've heard us speak, so I thought he did a very good script." more on this story

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