Across the Universe (film)
Across the Universe is a 2007 American jukebox musical romantic drama film directed by Julie Taymor, centered on songs by the Beatles. The script is based on an original story credited to Taymor, Dick Clement, and Ian La Frenais, and based on the song of the same name by Lennon–McCartney. It incorporates 34 compositions originally written by members of the Beatles. The film stars Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson and T.V. Carpio, and introduces Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy as actors. Cameo appearances are made by Bono, Eddie Izzard, Joe Cocker, and Salma Hayek, among others.
Not to be confused with A Cross the Universe (film).Across the Universe
- Dick Clement
- Ian La Frenais
- Julie Taymor
- Matthew Gross
- Jennifer Todd
- Suzanne Todd
- Columbia Pictures
- Revolution Studios
- Gross Entertainment
- Team Todd
- September 14, 2007 (TIFF)
- October 12, 2007 (United States)
133 minutes[1]
- United States
- United Kingdom
English
$70.8 million[2]
$29.6 million[3]
Across the Universe premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, 2007, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 12 by Columbia Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising the visuals, cast, and singing performances, though criticizing the plot and direction. The film was a major box-office bomb, failing to earn even half of its total production budget at the box office. The film received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design. Two members of the supporting cast, Carol Woods and Timothy T. Mitchum, performed as part of a special Beatles tribute at the 50th Grammy Awards.
Plot[edit]
In the 1960s, Jude Feeney, a shipyard worker in Liverpool, heads to the US to find his G.I. father who conceived him during World War II, whom he has never met. He promises his girlfriend Molly he will stay in touch while he is away.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Lucy Carrigan worries about her boyfriend Daniel, who is headed for service in the Vietnam War. In Dayton, Ohio, cheerleader Prudence pines for a fellow female cheerleader and then drops out of school in shame.
Jude meets his father Wes, a janitor at Princeton University, but does not particularly bond with him. While on campus, he meets and befriends slacker student Max, who brings him home for Thanksgiving. He introduces Jude to his family, including Lucy, his younger sister.
Max drops out of college; he and Jude move into a bohemian enclave in Greenwich Village run by a singer, Sadie. Jude becomes a freelance artist, and Max is a cab driver. Daniel is killed in Vietnam, and Lucy attends his funeral. In Detroit, a young African-American boy is killed in the 1967 riot. His adult brother Jo-Jo, a guitarist, moves to New York for a change of scenery and auditions for Sadie's band. They are soon joined by Prudence, who had hitchhiked there.
Lucy visits Max in New York before starting college, and she and Jude fall in love. Max, initially displeased upon learning they slept together, finally gives them his blessing. Later, Max is drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam, as he is no longer a college student protected from the draft. Prudence is attracted to Sadie and becomes depressed when Sadie and Jo-Jo begin a relationship.
Lucy becomes increasingly involved in the anti-war movement. Jude remains comparatively apolitical but devoted to her. Sadie is offered a chance to go on a solo tour as a headliner, leading to a bitter breakup between her and Jo-Jo. Jude dislikes the increasing amount of time Lucy spends with the Students for a Democratic Republic, led by activist Paco, as he suspects that Paco is attempting to seduce her.
Jude storms into the SDR office, leading to an argument with Lucy and a fight with Paco, after which Jude is thrown out and she breaks up with him. Some time later, Jude follows her to an anti-war demonstration at Columbia University. When the police arrest Lucy, Paco, and the other activists, Jude's attempts to reach her lead to his arrest as well.
With Jude facing deportation, Lucy contacts his father. Wes visits him in jail but has no legal proof that Jude is his son and thus an American citizen. As a result, Jude is sent back to England. Returning to his job at the Liverpool shipyards, he runs into his former girlfriend Molly and sees that she is heavily pregnant by her current partner. She met him around the time Jude stopped writing her (when he started seeing Lucy).
Jo-Jo continues playing solo guitar in bars, while the highly successful Sadie drowns her sorrow and loneliness in alcohol on tour. Max is wounded in Vietnam and sent home. Lucy visits him in the hospital, but he is traumatized and dependent on morphine. Meanwhile, she continues her activities with the SDR and is involved with Paco, but is uncomfortable with him leading the movement deeper into violence.
Lucy leaves Paco and the organization when she finds him making bombs, and she is surrounded by constant reminders of Jude. One of Paco's homemade bombs explodes, killing him and his confederates. Upon reading this news, Jude fears Lucy is also dead. He learns from Max over the phone that she had left the group beforehand and is alive, and he arranges to return to NYC legally.
Jo-Jo and Sadie, who have reconciled, put on a rooftop concert. Max brings Jude to the rooftop. When the police arrive to break up the concert, Jude manages to remain on the roof and begins to sing. The police allow the band to rejoin him. He notices Lucy on the opposite rooftop, standing and looking at him. Lucy and Jude gaze while smiling at each other as the performance concludes.
Production[edit]
In March 2007, the media reported a dispute over the final cut of the film. Concerned with the length of director Julie Taymor's cut of the film, Revolution Studios chairman Joe Roth tested a sneak preview of a shortened version without first informing Taymor. The incident sparked some heat between the two, later involving Sony Pictures' Amy Pascal urging Taymor to agree to the shorter version.[5][6][7] After several months of dispute, Taymor's version was eventually reinstated as the theatrically released version.[8] While the production budget was originally reported as $45 million, documents from Roth's sale of Revolution Studios revealed the actual cost of the film to be $70.8 million.[2]
Sequel[edit]
In October 2020, Julie Taymor announced that developments were underway for a sequel. Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood have had discussions with the filmmaker to reprise their roles, while the story would take place during the 1970s and feature additional songs by the Beatles.[25][26]