Paul McCartney feature documentary ‘Man on the Run’ announced

New Paul McCartney documentary ‘Man On The Run’ to explore post-The Beatles life

MPL and Polygram Entertainment, the film and television division of Universal Music Group,  announced a feature documentary that explores Paul McCartney’s extraordinary life following the breakup of The Beatles.

The project was announced early this month during Universal Music Group’s artist showcase.

The film, drawing on unprecedented access to a never-before-seen archive of Paul and Linda’s home videos and photos, as well as new interviews, will be directed by Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Won’t You Be My Neighbor), with producers Michele Anthony, David Blackman, Neville, Caitrin Rogers and Scott Rodger and Ben Chappell from MPL. MAN ON THE RUN is fully financed by MPL & Polygram Entertainment and presented and produced by MPL, Polygram Entertainment and Tremolo Productions.

The Film begins with Paul McCartney navigating the aftermath of the break-up of The Beatles, facing down myriad challenges while creating new music that would ultimately become the defining soundtrack of a new decade.

You can read three excerpts from Tom Doyle's Man On The Run, previously published by Videomuzic.

"Man on the Run, pt 1 " Behind the scene of The Beatles break up –
Paul McCartney knew he was in trouble the morning he couldn't lift his head off the pillow. In the 1970s, a depressed, heavy-drinking Paul McCartney walked away from The Beatles and reinvented himself as the leader of another hitmaking rock band.

      “Man on the Run,” Pt.2 During The Beatles break up -

McCartney greeted the dawning of the 1970s in his townhouse at 7 Cavendish Ave. in London, within walking distance of Abbey Road studios. Secluded in his music room, he began recording his first solo album, without the knowledge of the other Beatles.

  "Man on the Run,” Pt. 3 The Beatles Behind

For its creator, "Ram" was an entirely successful endeavor. By driving on his post-Beatles career, it served its purpose as its title suggested: "'Ram' forward, press on, be positive," said McCartney

The story of Band on the Run. Wings’ third album, Band On The Run, was released in the UK on 30 November 1973 and on 3 December 1973 in the USA. It marked the fifth album by Paul McCartney since his departure from the Beatles in April 1970.

Band On The Run was initially a slow burner, and it took eight months before it topped the UK album chart on 27 July 1974. It spent seven weeks at the top, was on the charts for a total of 124 weeks, and became the UK’s biggest-selling album of 1974.

Band on the Run: 8 Jun 1974 went to No.1 on the US charts but the single  was released in the United Kingdom on 28 June 1974. The single, with ‘Zoo Gang’ on the b-side, peaked at number three on the UK singles chart.

In the USA, ‘Band On The Run’ was issued with ‘Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five’ on the flipside. It was a bigger hit there, topping the US Billboard Hot 100.

McCartney Band on the run - Although sales were modest initially, its commercial performance was aided by two hit singles – "Jet" and "Band on the Run" – such that it became the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the United Kingdom and Australia, in addition to revitalising McCartney's critical standing. It remains McCartney's most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works.

“It started off with ‘If I ever get out of here.’ That came from a remark George made at one of the Apple meetings,” recalled McCartney. “He was saying that we were all prisoners in some way, some kind of remark like that. ‘If we ever get out of here,’ the prison bit, and I thought that would be a nice way to start an album. A million reasons, really. I can never lay them all down. It’s a million things; I don’t like to analyse them, all put together. Band on the run – escaping, freedom, criminals. You name it; it’s there.”