Few figures in music history have been as endlessly dissected as John Lennon, but Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade promises to reveal what we haven’t seen before. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Alan G. Parker, this documentary takes an unprecedented deep dive into Lennon’s final years—his activism, artistic evolution, and even a planned 1981 world tour that never happened. In this exclusive interview, Parker shares what he uncovered, from unseen photographs to the full, unfiltered story of Lennon’s relationship with Yoko Ono.
What drew you to explore John Lennon’s final decade in Borrowed Time, and what makes this chapter of his life so compelling to revisit now?
The idea was born largely out of the people I’ve known stretching over many decades who knew John well, I’d always hear some very interesting stories over dinner or a beer that I couldn’t seem to find in books or other documentaries. That I guess came to a head in the late summer of 2018 when the team discussed the fact that the 40th anniversary of John’s murder was going to take place in December 2020. We thought it would be good to wrap all those stories up into one place for the anniversary, course in the summer of 2018 we didn’t have a crystal ball, so we couldn’t see COVID coming!
You’ve directed documentaries on legendary figures like Sid Vicious and The Beatles. How did your approach to Borrowed Time differ from your previous work?
Almost from the outset we knew ‘Borrowed Time’ was going to be a very personal movie for me. Lennon entered my life when I was 9 years old and seemed to offer all the answers I was looking for, so from day one of production, and bear in mind we spent the bulk of 2019 (planned) and indeed 2020 which wasn’t originally planned taking the deepest dive in to John’s life that I’ve ever done! And believe me that’s saying something. But from the start of production everything was analysed like it was under a microscope! And the were certain things I wanted to know more about than anyone had found before, not least the proposed 1981 world tour.
The film promises never-before-seen footage and fresh insights from musicians, journalists, and close friends. What was the most surprising or revealing discovery you made during your research?
A number of things really, the way the film grew while in production, at the start for instance we maybe had an interview list of tops 25 people, by the end we’d interviewed just over 60 people across the globe! In some ways COVID was something of a blessing and a curse for the film, on the one hand we got roughly 16 months more time to explore/research, which also meant we’d completely miss our original aim of a December 2020 release. But in other ways because we missed our deadline the thought among our team was OK there is no deadline now, it’s ready when it’s done, which was great, no pressure.
Lennon’s anti-war activism and political outspokenness made him more than just a musician. How does Borrowed Time explore his role as a cultural and political figure?
We were very lucky to have access to some incredible people who knew John well within that period, stand out interviews would include; Tony Palmer, Ray Connolly and the amazing Tariq Ali, I could have spoken to those guys for days! They’ve totally fleshed out areas that have previously been barely covered.
For the first time, the full story of how John and Yoko met is revealed in this documentary. What new perspectives or details did you uncover that challenge the commonly known narrative?
It’s been interesting to get right back to the core of the story, for example I’ve read books that say with some authority that the first Beatles session that Yoko attended was on the ‘White Album’. Yet we found a picture of her and John at the ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ sessions. We aren’t looking to re-write history, just get the story straight.
The documentary also touches on Lennon’s 1981 comeback tour that never happened. What do you think that tour would have meant for his legacy had it gone ahead?
I think it would have been huge! I mean the stage sets alone were years ahead of their time, the kind of thing U2 were using over a decade later, remember this would have been 1981 not 1991. We’ve been incredibly lucky in our access to both the design of the thing, and many people who would have been involved. John hadn’t toured the word since The Beatles split, so just imagine…
You describe Lennon as “the older brother this bullied kid needed.” How has working on this film deepened your personal connection to his music and impact?
In a big way, for better or worse we’ve been on this project a long time, because it just kept growing when we were making it! And we didn’t want to release it before it was where it is now. I’m hugely proud of it, and a few remarkable things have happened along the way. John has been in my life now for 51 years, yet remarkably I’m still learning…
With both a theatrical release and an extended Director’s Cut on streaming, what do you hope audiences—whether die-hard Lennon fans or newcomers—take away from Borrowed Time?
Normally we would never release what is technically a work in progress cut, but once the actual cinema/TV version was complete, a few close friends (all in the business) who’ve seen the finished thing started asking me things like, don’t you think the die hard fans would love the long form version, because it’s such a deep dive, eventually I thought this has come from too many places to be a coincidence, so we decided to make our rough cut a real thing.
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BORROWED TIME: LENNON’S LAST DECADE opens in UK cinemas from 2nd May with an exclusive Director’s Cut available on the Icon Film Channel on the same day.
