All Together Now chronicles the creative process as well as the trials and tribulations faced by Crique du Soleil in bringing The Beatles: LOVE to the stage at the Mirage in Las Vegas. Directed by Adrian Willis, this documentary, a Special Presentation at the 2008 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, depicts how the late George Harrison’s friendship with Cirque du Soleil’s founder Guy Laliberte led the legendary circus artists to team up with The Beatles and fuse the group's classic music with circus performances. Unfortunately, Harrison died before the idea could be fully realized. Remaining Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr partnered with Yoko Ono and Harrison’s widow Olivia to help make Harrison’s idea become a reality.

Below are excerpts from an e-mail interview with Wills.

QUESTION: In what ways do you think The Beatles: LOVE would be any different or similar had George Harrison lived to see the project through to fruition?

WILLS: I watched the Beatles and their wives go through the process of creating LOVE and I feel that they were trying to keep it as true to George’s vision of blending the two (Cirque and Beatles) as they could. They were emotionally engaged in the building of this show. The answer that I got when I asked them that question was that George would surely have been at the rehearsals and would have enjoyed watching the show as it was built. But sadly because of his passing we’ll never know the answer.

QUESTION: What do you think the remaining Beatles as well as Harrison’s widow Olivia and John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono brought to the project?

WILLS: I think that they joined together to make sure George’s idea was honored and that all their talents were utilized to ensure LOVE would be as successful as it could be. They made certain that the music would be reworked properly for the show, entrusting it to Sir George Martin (The Beatles longtime producer) and his son, Giles. They listened to everything and helped shape it. They were also involved in the building of the show, which was a first for Cirque.

QUESTION: What was it like to interview Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison?

WILLS: I was sensitive to how I would interview them. I wanted to make sure that I had a real conversation with them and not a “puff piece”. They were candid, and had not been interviewed by any of the media concerning this show, and that gave us a jumping off point. There was a sense of them being “fresh” with their answers. It was a privilege to have a conversation, where you felt as if you were just talking, where ideas were being expressed.

QUESTION: How would you describe the way circus performing combines successfully with The Beatle music in this production?

WILLS: The show is a great blend of The Beatles music in a theatre with over 6000 speakers in the round -- with the acrobatics of the Cirque, extreme sports, extreme dance and extreme emotion. It truly is a spectacle. I remember after having interviewed Sir Paul McCartney in June 2006, going to watch a run through of the show and just thinking “this is beautiful, I really feel I’m with the music” and Dominique Champagne’s (LOVE’s director) spin on it is dazzling. I am especially touched by “Day in the Life”.

QUESTION:  Did you learn anything surprising or that you weren’t expecting to about Cirque du Soleil or more importantly The Beatles themselves?

WILLS: I think what surprised me the most was how human the whole process was. Watching Sir Paul McCartney have a catch-up conversation with Sir George Martin, or hearing Sir George Martin tell me about the last time he saw John Lennon, I felt as if I was touching history. I think that what the spectators of All Together Now will come away feeling is that they were privileged to see these people not just as icons, but as people who are emotionally touched by an experience that has them living their past in the present.

(For more information about the 2008 Hot Docs International Canadian Documentary Film Festival, please go to the official site by clicking here.)