“Man on the Run” is a new movie about Paul McCartney forging a new path after The Beatles broke up, with the group Wings.
Director Morgan Neville was in Chicago this week. He said McCartney’s music plays on through all the chapters of his life.
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“Oh my God, I’ve been a Beatles fan as far back as I can remember,” Neville said. “I feel like this is a film I’ve been preparing for literally my whole life.”
There are some surprises in the film.
“Part of coming out of The Beatles was suddenly the freedom – I can do anything – and Linda, his partner, when he would ask, ‘can I do this?’ would say, ‘it’s allowed,'” Neville said. “Linda was Paul’s wife for a reason. There were a lot of women who would have liked to have married Paul. And he picks this woman. She’d been a rock photographer. So, she understood his world, and she lived. And she was strong. And he needed a strong person.”
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Neville said there are two Paul McCartneys.
“‘There’s that Paul McCartney fellow who’s a genius, who writes songs. And then there’s just me, Paul: the dad, the husband,'” he said.
Neville was asked if McCartney will ever escape the former Beatle thing.
“I call the film ‘Man on the Run’ because he’s running away from The Beatles in the wake of them breaking up … every interview, ‘when are The Beatles getting back together, can’t you get back together?'” Neville said. “And when John dies suddenly, that just ends. That’s why I ended the film there. Paul stops running. Suddenly, he just records the next record as Paul McCartney, and he works with George Martin and Ringo again. And he stops running away from it; so, I don’t think he’s trying to escape it now. I think he’s saying, ‘I can be all these things. I can be a Beatle, and I can be a Wing. And I can be Paul, and they’re all part of my history. I can embrace it all.'”
Stream “Man On The Run” on Amazon Prime starting Friday.