Recommendations of the Editorial team
Steven Soderbergh brings John Lennon’s last interview to the screen – recorded only hours before his death. The director of “Contagion” (2011) works on a previously unsatisfied documentary that is dedicated to this historical conversation. The project is currently in production and, according to the “Deadline”, is still to be released in 2025. A sales partner is currently being sought.
For Soderbergh, it is the first documentary since “and everything is going” (2010), a portrait of the artist Spalding Gray. With the new Lennon project, the multi-award-winning director again turns to a deep personal portrait. The new film is produced by the “Ocean’s Eleven” director Soderbergh itself, together with Michael Sugar (“Inside Wikileaks” 2013) and David Hillman as well as Nancy Saslow and David Hudson from Mishpookah Entertainment Group.
The last interview: a historical moment
The focus of the documentary is a historically charged radio discussion that Lennon, together with his wife and artistic partner Yoko Ono on December 8, 1980 – just a few hours before his murder – led in his New York apartment. The conversation with a team from RKO Radio was the only radio interview that Lennon gave as part of the release of his album “Double Fantasy” (1980).
The interview is considered remarkably open and complex. John Lennon, just 40 years old, spoke about his return to the music business after a five -year break, which he had dedicated to his son Sean Lennon. He expressed confidence about the future-only a little later by Mark David Chapman in front of the Dakota building. One of his statements today seems particularly urgent: “I think my work is only completed when I am dead and buried – and I hope that takes a very, very long time.”
Beatles in the Hollywood hype
Interest in Lennon and the Beatles does not tear off. At the same time, director Sam Mendes is working on an ambitious Biopic project: Four connected films about the members of the legendary band, all of whom are to be released in April 2028.
Soderbergh also remains productive away from the documentary. He recently ended the shooting of the dark comedy “The Christopher” in London-with Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, James Corden and Golden-Globes winner Jessica Gunning. In March, his spy thriller celebrated “Black Bag” with Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender and Regé-Jean Page critic success, although the film flopped on the box office. Previously, he published the psychological drama “Presence” about Neon in 2024.