"In His Life: The John Lennon Story"

NBCi presents

November 29, 2000

Stars from "In His Life: The John Lennon Story," (airing December 3rd at 9:00 PM on NBC), Phillip McQuillan (John Lennon) and Daniel McGowan (Paul McCartney), chat about what it was like to play two of the most important and interesting musicians of the 20th century.

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NBCLive: Welcome to a very special evening as we are joined by two of the stars of "In His Life--The John Lennon Story," a new film premiering on Dec. 3 at 9 PM on NBC. With us we have Phillip McQuillan starring in his first role as John Lennon, and Daniel McGowan who played the part of Paul McCartney. Please join us in welcoming Phillip McQuillan and Daniel McGowan! Welcome gentlemen!

Hippie: After having played John Lennon, do you have a different appreciation for him as an artist and as a person?

Phillip McQuillan: I do now, because I didn't realize he had particular relationships with his family. What I mean is that I wasn't aware of his family life until I made this movie. It has made me appreciate more where the man came from.

Virtual Mirage: How do you feel, honestly, that this movie will give us an insight to their lives?

Daniel McGowan: I think it will give a really good insight into the early days of John Lennon and the Beatles. From my experience before making the movie, I didn't really know anything about the Beatles other than things starting with Beatlemania and forward. I think this movie, because it is so factual and precise, gives a really good insight into the early days and the formative years of John Lennon.

A Be Line: Do you think this movie will bring back the their popularity full swing? Not that anyone has forgotten the Beatles! But do you think most of America will tune in to watch?

Phillip McQuillan: My answer to that is that their popularity will always remain the same, but maybe now people will appreciate how they grew as young men together. What I mean by that is the relationship stuff. For example, the relationship John had with his mother, his aunt, when he first met Cynthia, Paul, and Brian Epstein. Eventually we will see how Brian turned them into the first boy band.

Daniel McGowan: I think that there's always a continuing strong core of popularity for the Beatles. Every so often, there is a resurgence. At the moment, you can see this with the "Anthology" book and their new album being #1 in every country. And yes, everyone in America will watch this movie, hopefully.

Allison: How many hours did you have to work on the set for this movie?

Phillip McQuillan: 16 hour days sometimes. Sometimes I had a half-day, which was 10 hours.

Daniel McGowan: The whole filming process took place over a period of just over 4 weeks, so by movie standards, that is really pushing it. Usually they are 6-8 weeks, sometimes more.

Phillip McQuillan: We both had fun, and we think our performance has benefited because of the fact that we used real locations.

Rob: What obstacles, if any, did you have in making this movie?

Daniel McGowan: The first real obstacle was the fact that normally I play the guitar right handed, but because I was playing Paul McCartney, I had to learn left-handed which was really difficult. I had to switch my brain around and then I had to work on just the actual playing. In particular, filming the music scenes was quite tough because I had to think about what I was playing with my hands, the lyrics of the song, the actions, and any dialog in between the lyrics, as well as having to be aware of where the camera was. So there were all these things that were made difficult because I had to play left handed.

Phillip McQuillan: For me, the only obstacle was getting used to working technically as an actor, rather than just performing and not paying attention to the technical side of shooting. But I adjusted to it within a week. We had a week of preparation before the 4-week shoot, and that gave me plenty of time to get used to working technically as well as performing, because you have to do entertainment.

Alpha: What was the set setting like? Did you have a lot of fun making this movie? Anything interesting or funny happen while filming?

Phillip McQuillan: When we did a scene in The Cavern, we did a song called "Roll Over Beethoven," and we experienced that as one of the most energetic and passionate moments of the movie where we had everybody in rapture. Everyone was full of energy and really positively happy that day. But I found out afterwards that there were some people there who had seen the Beatles 30 years ago, and they felt like they were in the Twilight Zone when they saw us because we were realistic.

Daniel McGowan: That day in the tavern was the most fun for us. The extras were brilliant. They were all dressed in 60s costumes, screaming, jumping to the music, waving. It was a really good day!

Phillip McQuillan: It was Rock 'n' Roll!

Coffee Addict: Did you both feel the spirit of the band when you were making this film?

Daniel McGowan: Yes. Definitely. That came a lot from the locations we used, because they were all the real locations that the Beatles used, like The Cavern and John Lennon's house. You could really feel their presence still there which was great and really helped us. But also in front of the cameras as a group we bonded together.

Phillip McQuillan: We got a small taste of what it would have been like in Beatlemania together, as actors, musicians, and performers. We actually got a little taste of what it was like to be them. I hadn't felt the experience of teenage autographs before, so I could relate to how the Beatles would have felt. Obviously they were on a much larger level.

Sweetie Jules: What do you think will be revealed by this movie that most people didn't really know about?

Phillip McQuillan: The relationships that John had early on in his life. The way he was torn at 4-5 years of age between his mother and his father, and he had to make a choice. He chose his mother, but as a child it was a tough decision and he had to live with it for the rest of his life. He could have moved to New Zealand with his father, and he would have done something different. He was very confused about that. Inside his head were a lot of disturbing emotional feelings, so it was hard for him to be loving to people sometimes. The worst thing was his experience that the people he loved in his life died on him. His uncle died. His mother was killed by an off-duty policeman. How can somebody live with that? It's very difficult and John had his way of dealing with that. That will be portrayed in the movie. John used rock 'n' roll as an escape and a way to project his artistic ability.

Daniel McGowan: You learn a lot about the relationships that he had with other people, and you also learn a lot about the early years of the Beatles. How John started off, and Paul McCartney joined, and then George Harrison, and then they go off to Hamburg. There is a lot that is known on only a small level by only a few people.

Phillip McQuillan: I think that everyone should enjoy that we get to relive John Lennon's first ever gig with the Quarrymen, where he meets Paul McCartney for the first time.

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