Lennon Naked Starring Christopher Eccleston Press Release And Air Date Details, Promo Pics

Former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston is playing John Lennon is a special one-off about his life post-Beatles to air next week.

The details were announced a few months ago but the BBC have released the press pack for it yesterday and also have let slip the air date.

Lennon Naked will be airing Wednesday, June 23rd on BBC4 at 9:30.

I know a lot of people are looking forward to this. I find it a little strange that something as high profile as this will be airing on BBC4. But what do I know?

Here are some cool promo pictures released by the BBC:

Here is the press pack released by the BBC yesterday in its entirety. Warning, it’s a tad self indulgent.

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Writer Robert Jones and director/producer Edmund Coulthard explain why one of the icons in British music became a fascinating subject, in a new 90-minute drama for BBC Four.

“Robert (Jones) and I spent over two years researching the story of John Lennon and developing the script,” says director/producer Edmund Coulthard. “The material is already out there – most of the key players have written books, and Yoko and John did really live their lives in public in a strikingly unmediated way. There is a huge amount available in the public arena – you can spend a long time just watching interviews on You Tube.”

“All the research I did was from my desk,” continues writer, Robert Jones. “I read everything I could on, or by, John Lennon. I scoured websites, I read and listened to dozens of interviews and press conferences and chat shows. I listened with a new ear to his music, both solo and The Beatles.

“I decided early on that opinions amongst those closest to John seemed to differ so widely on the salient points of his life that I wouldn’t base ‘my’ Lennon on any one version. Because of this, I didn’t set out to interview Yoko (Ono) or Paul (McCartney) or Cynthia (Lennon) or Ringo (Starr), etc. I soaked up everything I could on the man, let the material settle in my mind and then went with my instincts.”

Ed continues: “As the title card says, the film is based on fact – but it’s not a documentary or a drama documentary. It’s an interpretation – principally by Robert as writer, but by me as director and by Chris Eccleston as the leading actor. It’s a drama which dares to reach inside Lennon’s mind during a very turbulent period in his life.

“Lennon is fascinating,” Robert continues. “He divides opinion but one way or another people feel strongly about him. Even those born long after his death seem to have a strong sense of the man, and of Yoko. The Sixties is the decade that has most influenced post-war Britain – and Lennon was arguably that decade’s most influential figure.

“Lennon grew in my estimation the longer the project went on. When I was a kid, it was cooler to like the Rolling Stones than The Beatles, but it was The Beatle’s music that permeated the culture. They were more than a band – they were like a national touchstone. And Lennon, marginally more than McCartney, I’d say was the driving force behind them. His contribution is hard to ignore.

“Ed and I had talked a lot about our recollections of reading the famous interview John gave to Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine in 1971. Lennon had just been through Primal Therapy and released Plastic Ono Band, often referred to as ‘the primal album.’ The music, and the interview were spontaneous, raw and outspoken.”

“I’m a lifelong fan of Lennon,” continues Ed. “But what really inspired this idea is listening to tapes of that interview to Rolling Stone magazine, soon after Lennon had arrived to live in America. Lennon decided to completely open up for the first time – and reveal the truth about how he felt about everyone – and tell the story of what really happened during the time he met Yoko and The Beatles started to break up. This was clearly a time when he struggled to reinvent himself as a solo artist – and once I started talking to Robert, it began to feel like the basis for a film.”

Robert continues: “I hope the audience will take away the idea of a complex man who didn’t always do the right thing but who confronted with dignity, humanity and integrity an existence the like of which would have been unimaginable before he set out and lived it.”

“I think the greatest compliment to any film about an artist is that it sends the viewer back to the work,” says Ed. “This is a film about a man I think was one of the greatest British artists of the 20th century. He was also the man who wrote Mother – and I think if nothing else, it might help you understand more about the forces which led him to write that amazing song.”

Award-winning actor Christopher Eccleston reveals why taking on the role of one of Britain’s enduring and enigmatic icons was difficult to refuse.

“I’d been watching and reading about John Lennon avidly for over 20 years or more. I’m absolutely fascinated by him – he seems to have been kind, brutal, funny, arrogant, insecure, passionate and brilliant, in short – human.

“I wanted to play Lennon because of Robert Jones’s script. He captured Lennon’s character and the world in which he lived with imagination and great originality. I had three weeks from accepting the role to prepare, so I read, watched and listened to everything I could get my hands on,” says the 46-year-old actor, who starred in the relaunch of Doctor Who in 2005.

“I re-read the Philip Norman biography and watched many documentaries and videos, but the chief source was the interview John gave to Jann Wenner, for Rolling Stone magazine,” explains the star of critically-acclaimed dramas The Second Coming, Flesh And Blood and Hillsborough.

“I think Lennon was intensely human and his flaws were amplified by fame. He had to wrestle with his qualities and his demons in a very public forum. Lennon had a very contradictory nature. I was hugely sympathetic to what happened to him when he was a young boy of only five years old – his mother and father told him to choose between them. It was insightful because I felt that incident drove him on in both good and bad ways.

“The breadth and originality of his and the Beatles music is astounding, for example the leap from Love Me Do to Tomorrow Never Knows. I’ve got most of The Beatles music and music by John. There is a real confessional quality to his work. My personal favourite of John’s, and I think a key to his life and this film, is Julia.

The Salford-born actor, who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, also sought help with perfecting Lennon’s accent.

“I had a brilliant dialect coach in Jill McCullough. John had a very distinctive voice, accent and physicality, the challenge was to capture his spirit without just resorting to impersonation. The costume and make-up departments were really brilliant and took great care in to perfecting the shapes and the look of Lennon, on a tiny budget.

The 90-min film which includes the famous bed protest also features the iconic Two Virgins cover in which an unabashed John and Yoko bare all for the cameras. But for Chris and his co-star Naoko Mori this was more of a challenge.

“Nudity – that’s the hard stuff to do, but you just have to get on with it,” says Chris. “I’d worked with Naoko before but we weren’t naked in Doctor Who!” laughs Chris. “We had a good rapport on set… with nudity, actors always watch each other’s backs, literally, instead of looking anywhere else.”

So what’s next?

“I have just finished filming the first episode of The Accused, by Jimmy McGovern. I’ve worked with Jimmy a lot. I’m excited. It’s a really good script.”

Naoko Mori, star of Torchwood and Doctor Who, was drawn to playing the role of Yoko Ono in Lennon Naked by both the challenge of the role and also the opportunity to work with Christopher Eccleston once again.

“I’d worked with Chris before in an episode of Doctor Who and felt we’d worked really well together. I have always admired his work and had a lot of respect for him. He really is a tremendous actor – and a wonderful man.”

Naoko admits that, initially, she felt somewhat apprehensive about playing such an iconic figure as Yoko Ono, but soon realised that it was just the challenge she had been waiting for.

“I really liked the script, but attempting to play one of the biggest icons of the 20th century would be the most challenging thing I’d attempted – with a huge risk of failure. Initially, I was worried that I might not understand Yoko properly or portray her accurately but I soon realised that this was exactly the type of role I’d been waiting for. I was ready for the challenge and, after all, Yoko is a woman who has fascinated me all my life.”

For Naoko, another demanding element of the role was the prospect of a full nudity scene. “It is something I swore I would never do. It was a huge obstacle and challenge for me. I can’t even get changed in front of my family or my friends, let alone anyone else!”

The nude scene in Lennon Naked is based on the Two Virgins album cover.

“It was not about sex – rather it was a bold, warts-and-all declaration of their ‘rebirth’. For me, it wasn’t just the challenge of being naked just physically, but mentally, too, being able to get to the place where they were emotionally.”

Naoko’s first memory of Yoko Ono was at the age of “around five or six” when she heard Yoko’s song Kiss, Kiss, Kiss.

“That first impression had always stayed with me. Even as I grew older, I didn’t quite understand her; the wailing, the singing, the artwork, everything. She was an enigma, a mystery, almost an ethereal being. I’ve always been fascinated by her throughout my life.”

Although Yoko Ono is a complex individual, similarities in their upbringing helped Naoko relate to her in some ways.

“Her fight with her own issues and demons, her feelings of ‘always being an outsider’ is something I can relate to in my own personal way. Our experiences of living in different countries from an early age and what we had encountered are similar in some ways. Of course, I’m nowhere near as intellectual or artistic as her – but I think I can understand and relate to a lot of what she says.”

Lennon Naked concludes at the point where John and Yoko move to the United States. Many felt that Yoko Ono influenced Lennon to leave the Beatles and, eventually Britain, but Naoko is not certain as she says: “I don’t believe she manipulated or controlled him. She may have guided him and opened his eyes to explore new things but not maliciously as is often thought.”

Naoko sought to portray Ono as a “human” and a “woman” whilst depicting the great bond she and Lennon shared. “I wanted to express how strong a connection they shared and that they genuinely fell in love on a strong, deep level.”

Naoko says that she has a “very deep respect and admiration” for Yoko and hopes to “delve into her deeper” sometime in the future.

“Playing Yoko in Lennon Naked was an interesting exploration and foray into her world and it has taught me so much. I believe my relationship and curiosity with her has only just begun.”