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Paul and Linda McCartney's eldest daughter Mary McCartney says one of her goals in making the Abbey Road Studios documentary If These Walls Could Sing was not to focus too much on her own family. But she tells Variety that a memory of her parents at the studio that inspired her to make it.
“I remember seeing a picture of mum leading [our pony] Jet across the zebra crossing [on Abbey Road outside the studio]...
"I'm a photographer. That's been my main career and moving to directing felt like a natural progression. I've never done a feature documentary. And I was starting to think I'd like to do one...
"And then I had a message from a friend of mine, documentary producer, John Battsek, who said, 'Would you do a documentary about the history of Abbey Road Studios?' And I was a bit like, "Oh, I'm not sure for my first documentary that is right...
"It felt too close. I still work closely on my mother's [photo] archive, so I messaged the woman that runs that at my dad's office and I said, 'Have you got any photos of me at Abbey Road?' And she instantly texted me back the pictures that are at the front [of the film] and I just thought, 'I'm going to have to do this documentary.'"
In addition to her interviewing her dad for the film, she spoke to others who recorded there, including Jimmy Page, Elton John, Kate Bush, Roger Waters, David Gilmour and composer John Williams, among others.
If These Walls Could Sing premiered at the Telluride Film Festival this month and was acquired by Disney Original Documentary, which will air it on Disney Plus.