The Director of ‘Let It Be’ Wouldn’t Want to Run Into Paul McCartney ‘in a Dark Alley’

Let It Be director Michael Lindsay-Hogg got to know The Beatles, and he once said that this would make him nervous to run into an angry Paul McCartney. Lindsay-Hogg explained that while the band had a squeaky-clean public image, they were much more complex in their private lives. He noted that they were surprisingly tough. Lindsay-Hogg said he’d want to steer clear if he knew someone like McCartney was mad at him. 

‘Let It Be’ director Michael Lindsay-Hogg said Paul McCartney was tougher than he seemed

With Let It Be, Lindsay-Hogg captured The Beatles as they recorded songs for what would become their final studio album. They had been popular for years at this point. Lindsay-Hogg explained that he wanted to show the real people behind the veneer of fame. 

“I wanted to show that they didn’t just turn up in their velvet suits and their glossy hair,” he told Rolling Stone in 2021. “A lot of work went into it. And rehearsals, even for the participants, can be drudgery and draining … I always wanted it to be a clear look at the Beatles, because I had no agenda.”

While filming the band, Lindsay-Hogg learned they were argumentative and fed up with one another. This surprised viewers.

“A lot of people were surprised,” he said. “Because the Beatles had been portrayed as the moptops, that they were just f***ing adorable. In real life, they were tough.”

He believed that their innate toughness came from growing up in Liverpool. Lindsay-Hogg also didn’t think that years of wealth and fame had softened them much. 

“This just goes back to where they came from,” he said. “Liverpool is a tough town. I wouldn’t particularly want to run into Paul McCartney in a dark alley, if he didn’t like me.”

Paul McCartney had reason to be frustrated with the ‘Let It Be’ director

In the aftermath of Let It Be’s release, Lindsay-Hogg would have done well to avoid any alleys where McCartney might have been lurking. The documentary painted a dismal portrait of band relations. It has widely been considered The Beatles’ breakup film, and none of the band members were very happy about this. 

The film was a particular challenge for McCartney. It showed the band in the middle of some of their worst fights, and he didn’t think he came off well. It wasn’t until he saw footage of Peter Jackson’s Get Back, which used footage from Let It Be, that McCartney realized he wasn’t the villain. Lindsay-Hogg’s film showed The Beatles at their breaking point. Jackson proved that the band still liked each other, even at the end of their time together. 

John Lennon had more of a reputation for violence than his Beatles bandmate

While Lindsay-Hogg used McCartney as an example, he had more to worry about with John Lennon. While growing up, Lennon got into many physical fights. This didn’t stop when he joined The Beatles, either. 

“Oh, he’d fight about anything. Stupid things,” acquaintance Nick Crouch told The Guardian. “He could be quite violent, John.”

Lennon only swore off violence in 1963, when he got into a fight so brutal that he was sued for it.