Renowned artist Yoko Ono has poured cold water on plans to produce a movie about a visit to Sutherland she made with her late husband John Lennon during their heyday.
London, January 21 : Renowned artist Yoko Ono has poured cold water on plans to produce a movie about a visit to Sutherland she made with her late husband John Lennon during their heyday.
Her lawyers have denied the producers rights to use the late 'Beatle's songs, which were central to 'Mhari And The Lennons'.
Lennon had fond memories of childhood holidays in the village of Durness. With a view to escaping the pressures of superstardom, he insisted on taking his new wife on a holiday to Scotland in 1969.
However, he met with an accident while driving in the area, and had to spend five days in a small hospital in Golspie.
Film location manager and writer Derek Yeaman says that while assembling parts of the story, he discovered that Lennon had struck up an unlikely relationship with the local minister from the Free Church of Scotland.
He used the incident as the starting point for the film, a fictionalised story about the impact the Beatle's presence had on the local community. He had even secured the support of a top British film producer for the project.
However, Ono has now refused to authorise use of Lennon's songs in the film.
"Apparently her Scottish experience was not a pleasant one and she did not wish to 'go back' to these times, therefore we don't get the blessing we wanted, and also the Lennon 'materials' that would have encouraged the financiers to fund the film," the Scotsman quoted Yeaman as saying.
A lawyer for Ono, Peter Shukat, revealed that her decision was prompted by her desire to avoid stirring up "bad memories" of an unpleasant event in her and Lennon's lives.
"She felt that the story would not reflect greatly on anybody and she just wasn't real happy with it," Shukat was quoted as telling Scotland.
"I certainly can't stop you from making your movie, but we wouldn't authorise the licence of John's music - she controls John's music. And I don't believe without Yoko's approval Sony/ATV would license the Beatles' music," the lawyer added.
He even said that Ono was not in a condition to discuss the matter or make a direct comment on it.
Yeaman, however, is still determined to get the picture made.
"The film we want to make is an uplifting one and I just don't think Yoko knows this," he said.
ANI