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50-482: Nowhere Boy is a 2009 British biographical drama film , directed by Sam Taylor-Wood in her directorial debut. Written by Matt Greenhalgh , it is based on Julia Baird 's biography of her half-brother, the musician John Lennon . Nowhere Boy is about the teenage years of Lennon ( Aaron Johnson ), his relationships with his aunt Mimi Smith ( Kristin Scott Thomas ) and his mother Julia Lennon ( Anne-Marie Duff ),

100-586: A British director (Sam Taylor-Wood). The film also won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature at the San Diego Film Festival in 2010. The soundtrack features several of the songs played by The Quarrymen at the time depicted in the film. New recordings were made featuring performances by Johnson and the Nowhere Boys. Sangster was able to play the guitar before landing his role, but, as he

150-581: A Fairytale (2006), and Howard Stern in Private Parts (1997). In 2018, the musical biopic Bohemian Rhapsody , based on the life of Queen singer Freddie Mercury , became the highest-grossing biopic in history at the time. In 2023, it was surpassed by Oppenheimer , based on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb in World War II. Julia Baird (teacher) Julia Baird (née Dykins ; born 5 March 1947)

200-430: A daughter called Victoria (renamed Ingrid) after an affair with a Welsh soldier while Alfred was at sea. Julia was forced to give up the child for adoption after intense pressure from her father and her sisters. Although they had known each other previously, Julia started dating Bobby Dykins while working in a café near Mosspits, which was Lennon's primary school. Dykins was said to be a good-looking, well-dressed man who

250-525: A house, and he found a 4-bedroom house in Gateacre Park Drive, Liverpool. Lennon told Birch to furnish and decorate it, and to send all the bills to him. The Dykinses heard nothing from Lennon for years, until he phoned Baird in 1975, and asked for mementos of his childhood life, such as his school tie and photographs. He sent £3,000 to cover the cost of shipping and as a gift, but wrote, "Don't tell Mimi". Lennon continued to call Baird until 1976, when

300-446: A physical tic and nervous cough Dykins had. Although Julia never divorced Alfred Lennon, she was the common-law wife of Dykins, although Paul McCartney admitted to being sarcastic to Lennon about his mother living in sin while Julia was still married. Julia's sister, Mimi, called Julia and Dykins' home—at 1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool—"The House of Sin" and her own house (where Lennon lived) "The House of Correction". When Jackie

350-594: A place to stay – we were never harmed." Baird and Jackie were asked to visit Lennon at Kenwood which was his home in Weybridge in 1964. Cynthia Lennon —Lennon's wife at the time—took them both out shopping in Knightsbridge, buying them expensive clothes. During the same visit, The Beatles played at the Finsbury Park Astoria , and the sisters asked to be allowed to stand near the front, but had to be pulled out of

400-825: A rock 'n' roll band, Mimi buys him a guitar. John forms a band named the Quarrymen . At their first gig at a village fête , John meets Paul McCartney . Paul auditions and joins the band. Paul and John soon begin composing songs together . As the Quarrymen gain popularity, John meets Paul's friend, George Harrison , who becomes the band's lead guitarist. Julia throws for John at a birthday party, and he confronts her about his absent father, Alf Lennon . He wants to know why Julia gave him up. He also confronts Mimi, who says Julia cheated on Alf and did not want to stay with him. Alf had asked 5-year-old John to choose whom he wanted to live with. John initially chose his father, though he then wanted to stay with his mother. Without either parent having

450-618: A two-disc album by Sony Music Entertainment on 29 December 2009. Disc 1 contains songs featured in the film, and Disc 2 is made up of rock and roll classics that inspired the film and Lennon himself. Biographical film Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of the College of Staten Island and Dennis P. Bingham of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis . Custen, in Bio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History (1992), regards

500-633: Is a British retired teacher and author. She is the younger half-sister of English musician John Lennon , and is the eldest daughter of his mother Julia Lennon and John 'Bobby' Albert Dykins. She also has an older maternal half-sister, Ingrid Pedersen. Her younger sister is Jacqueline 'Jackie' Dykins (born 26 October 1949). Lennon started visiting the Dykins' house in 1951. After the death of Julia Lennon in 1958, Harriet and Norman Birch were appointed guardians of Julia and Jackie, ignoring Dykins' parentage, as he had never legally married their mother. Lennon invited

550-619: Is often a balance between similarity in looks and ability to portray the characteristics of the person. Anthony Hopkins felt that he should not have played Richard Nixon in Nixon because of a lack of resemblance between the two. The casting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror was objected to because of the American Wayne being cast as the Mongol warlord. Egyptian critics criticized

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600-422: Is right-handed, learned how to play left-handed, à la McCartney. Producers negotiated with Yoko Ono for the rights to use Lennon's song " Mother " in the film, which Yoko gave after having watched a private screening of the movie. In addition to the featured songs, British electronica duo Goldfrapp provide the film's instrumental score. The soundtrack was released digitally on 11 December 2009 and in stores as

650-878: The London Film Festival . The film was screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on 27 January. It screened again at the Maui Film Festival in Wailea , Hawaii , on 18 June 2010, the Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan on 27 July 2010, and at The Fest For Beatles Fans convention in Chicago on 14 August 2010. The film has received mostly positive reviews from film critics. Based on 135 reviews, it holds an 80% rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes . The site's critical consensus of

700-624: The 70th anniversary of Lennon's birth. HanWay Films represented worldwide sales. Distributor Icon Entertainment International took the rights for the United Kingdom and Australia. Mars Distribution acquired the rights for France. The Weinstein Company distributed the film in the United States, Germany and Latin America . The film had its world premiere on 29 October 2009 at the closing night of

750-462: The Dykins family. Julia took Baird and Jackie to Rosebury Street, Liverpool, to watch Lennon play with The Quarrymen on the back of a flatbed coal truck on 22 June 1957. Baird was allowed to sit on the back, but as the music was too loud she asked to be taken off. The Quarrymen played twice that day as part of a celebration to mark the 750th anniversary of the granting of Liverpool's charter by King John . Lennon and McCartney would later rehearse in

800-645: The Dykins sisters to visit after the success of the Beatles , when he was living in Kenwood , Weybridge , with his then-wife, Cynthia Lennon . Julia Dykins (Baird) married Allen Baird in 1968 and moved to Belfast . They had three children together but were divorced in 1981. Baird worked as a French language teacher and special needs teacher , and after Lennon's death she wrote John Lennon, My Brother (with Geoffrey Giuliano ) and gave up working in 2004 to write Imagine This – Growing up with my brother John Lennon . In 2009,

850-567: The Kardomah Coffee House, although Baird and her friends called it "frothy coffee". At 16, Baird started to hitch-hike to London, although her aunt never knew, as she would never have allowed it. Baird talked about the trips to London, and how relatively safe they were: "Hitching was easy then. It was a way of life. Everything was becoming more free. We'd start chatting to people in the Tube station and get invited to parties. People always gave us

900-759: The Moon (1999), Downey as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin (1992) and as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer (2023), Foxx as Ray Charles in Ray (2004), Thompson and Hanks as P. L. Travers and Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2014), and Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer (2023). Some biopics purposely stretch

950-446: The audience by security guards because of the crush. In December 1965, Dykins was killed in a car crash at the bottom of Penny Lane. Lennon was not told about his death for months afterwards. Dykins had since married, but Baird acknowledges that she and Jackie had very little contact with his wife, and did not attend their father's funeral. In 1968, Lennon was told The Dairy Cottage was too cramped for them all, so he told Birch to buy

1000-420: The bathroom of Blomfield Road because they said the acoustics "sounded like a recording studio". Baird's mother was struck and killed on 15 July 1958, just outside Mimi's home, by a Standard Vanguard car driven by an off-duty constable , PC Eric Clague, who was a learner-driver . Clague later said: "Mrs Lennon just ran straight out in front of me. I just couldn't avoid her. I was not speeding, I swear it. It

1050-651: The birthplace of THE BEATLES", and in October she planted a tree in Liverpool's Peace Garden to commemorate Lennon's birthday. Baird retired in 2004, and published a book called Imagine This – Growing up with my brother John Lennon , in February 2007. Baird's book was adapted into the 2009 British film Nowhere Boy . From 28 to 30 September 2007, Durness held the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival which

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1100-480: The book was adapted into the film Nowhere Boy . She is now a director of Cavern City Tours in Liverpool. Baird's mother, Julia Lennon, was the fourth of five children in the Stanley family: Mary, known as ' Mimi ' (1906–1991), Elizabeth 'Mater' (1908–1976), Anne 'Nanny' (1911–1988), Julia 'Judy' (1914–1958), and Harriet 'Harrie' (1916–1973). John Lennon was Julia's first child by Alfred Lennon, although she later had

1150-502: The book, John Lennon, My Brother —written with Giuliano, and a foreword by McCartney—Baird travelled to New York during 1989 to appear at a Beatlefest convention, and was asked if she could prove she was really Lennon's half-sister. Baird declined, saying she was not going to produce her passport, and the audience would just have to take her word for it. In 2000, Baird was present at the unveiling of six road signs, erected on major routes into Liverpool, saying, "Liverpool welcomes you – to

1200-538: The calls stopped. Jackie worked as a shop assistant during the 1970s, but battled against a heroin addiction. In the 1980s, and fully recovered, Jackie gave birth to her son, John, later working as a hairstylist. After Lennon and Harriet died, Yoko Ono wanted to sell the house—as it was still in Lennon's name—but later gave it to the Salvation Army on 2 November 1993, even though Lennon had once written: "I always thought of

1250-737: The caption, "John phoned Mimi as soon as he arrived in Hamburg...and every week thereafter for the rest of his life." The film was the directorial debut of conceptual artist/photographer Sam Taylor-Johnson . The screenplay was written by Matt Greenhalgh , who also wrote the Joy Division film Control . It was shot on location in Liverpool , the last house on the right at the end of Sussex Road in Ickenham, Middlesex and at Ealing Studios in West London. Some of

1300-454: The casting of Louis Gossett Jr. , an African American actor, as Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in the 1983 TV miniseries Sadat . Also, some objected to the casting of Jennifer Lopez in Selena because she is a New York City native of Puerto Rican descent while Selena was Mexican American . Because the figures portrayed are actual people, whose actions and characteristics are known to

1350-580: The course of her degree she spent a year off in France, hitch-hiked around Europe, and protested against the war in Vietnam in Paris alongside Simone de Beauvoir . Baird later taught French and English before working as a special needs teacher with teenagers in deprived areas of Chester , until she retired to write books and become a director of Cavern City Tours. Baird and Jackie met their half-sister Ingrid Pedersen for

1400-458: The creation of his first band, the Quarrymen , and its evolution into the Beatles . Following its premiere at the London Film Festival on 29 October 2009, Nowhere Boy opened in British theatres on 26 December 2009. Nearly a year later, in October 2010, the film received its US release, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Lennon's birth. Nowhere Boy received positive reviews from critics and

1450-438: The film is: "Don't expect any musical insights, but this look at John Lennon's early life benefits from its restrained, low-key approach and some fine acting from Aaron Johnson." In The New York Times , reviewer Manohla Dargis concluded, "It's a pleasant-enough creation story to revisit, one weighted down by melodrama and lifted up by some rocking tunes." In his 2013 book Tune In , Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn criticised

1500-515: The first time on 7 December 2000 when they were present at the ceremony to place a Blue Heritage plaque on Mimi's house, commemorating the fact that Lennon had lived there. Baird and Jackie had only recently found out who Pedersen was, after being told by journalist Bill Smithies of the Liverpool Echo . Baird was shocked that Pedersen did not look anything like the Stanley or the Lennon family, having pale blue eyes and fair hair. After releasing

1550-463: The gender norms that underlie the biopic in his article, "Taking Hollywood Back" in the 2009 issue of Cinema Journal . Roger Ebert defended The Hurricane and distortions in biographical films in general, stating "those who seek the truth about a man from the film of his life might as well seek it from his loving grandmother. ... The Hurricane is not a documentary but a parable ." Casting can be controversial for biographical films. Casting

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1600-478: The genre as having died with the Hollywood studio era , and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck . On the other hand, Bingham's 2010 study Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre shows how it perpetuates as a codified genre using many of the same tropes used in the studio era that has followed a similar trajectory as that shown by Rick Altman in his study, Film/Genre . Bingham also addresses

1650-523: The historical accuracy of the scene in which Lennon is forced to choose between Alfred and Julia, writing "John's 'choice' was not between his mother and father, it was between his mostly absent dad's friend's parents—in whose lives he had no place—and home and school back in Liverpool. There was no choice at all." Nowhere Boy was nominated for four British Academy Film Awards : Outstanding British Film, Best Supporting Actress (one each for Anne-Marie Duff and Kristin Scott Thomas ), and Outstanding Debut by

1700-427: The house he's in [Birch] as my contribution towards looking after Julia [Baird] and Jackie. I would prefer the girls to use it." Julia married Allen Baird in 1968, moving to Belfast and keeping her family history a secret. The Bairds had three children: Nicholas (b. 1971), Sara (b. 1972) and David (b. 1980), and were divorced in 1981. Baird went to university and gained an MA in philosophy of education , and during

1750-557: The interior school scenes were filmed at Sacred Heart Catholic College in Crosby . Following the announcement of the film, initial media accounts indicated that it would be based on the book Imagine This: Growing Up with My Brother John Lennon by Lennon's half sister Julia Baird . However, the credits for the completed film do not reference either the book or Baird, with sole writing credit accorded to screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh . The director consulted both Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono about

1800-810: The local course, on top of the five shillings that Lennon's Aunt Mimi gave him. During Lennon's visits, he would climb trees with Baird and Jackie, test Baird's spelling, and once gave Baird half-a-crown to leave him alone when he wanted to kiss his first girlfriend. Baird remembered that after Lennon had visited them, her mother would often play a record called, My Son John, To Me You Are So Wonderful , "by some old crooner , and sit and listen to it". "My Son John"—sung by David Whitfield —was released in 1956. Although Mimi sent Lennon to his Aunt's croft in Sango Bay, Durness , Scotland, for his holidays, he later persuaded Mimi to let him take short holidays in North Wales with

1850-419: The male biopic and the female biopic as distinct genres from each other, the former generally dealing with great accomplishments, the latter generally dealing with female victimization. Ellen Cheshire's Bio-Pics: a life in pictures (2014) examines UK/US films from the 1990s and 2000s. Each chapter reviews key films linked by profession and concludes with further viewing list. Christopher Robé has also written on

1900-803: The public (or at least historically documented), biopic roles are considered some of the most demanding of actors and actresses. Warren Beatty , Faye Dunaway , Ben Kingsley , Johnny Depp , Jim Carrey , Jamie Foxx , Robert Downey Jr. , Brad Pitt , Emma Thompson , Tom Hanks , Eddie Redmayne , and Cillian Murphy all gained new-found respect as dramatic actors after starring in biopics: Beatty and Dunaway as Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi (1982), Depp as Ed Wood in Ed Wood (1994), Carrey as Andy Kaufman in Man on

1950-526: The role. The film received a National Lottery funding of £ 1.2 million from the UK Film Council Premier Fund, with an additional £35,500 from its Development Fund to create the script. The film also received a grant from Film4 (the film division of Channel 4 ). The film premiered in the UK on 26 December 2009. Its US release was on 8 October 2010, coinciding with that weekend's celebrations of

2000-424: The script, with both firmly correcting the depiction of Mimi to be less strict and more loving of John. Before landing on Johnson, Taylor-Johnson wanted singer Miles Kane to play the lead, after seeing him in an interview with bandmate Alex Turner , and being struck by their Beatlesque appearance. Taylor-Johnson went backstage to a Last Shadow Puppets show and brought Kane the script, with him ultimately passing on

2050-452: The time or money to legally determine custody, Mimi became John's custodian . John is upset by this revelation, and leaves in a drunken anger. John moves out to live on his own. Over time, he, Julia, and Mimi become friendly. When Julia is fatally hit by a car, John is consumed by anger. Two years later, he goes to travel to Hamburg with his newly formed band, the Beatles . Mimi asks John to call her as soon as he arrives. The film ends with

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2100-474: The truth. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was based on game show host Chuck Barris ' widely debunked yet popular memoir of the same name, in which he claimed to be a CIA agent. Kafka incorporated both the life of author Franz Kafka and the surreal aspects of his fiction. The Errol Flynn film They Died with Their Boots On tells the story of Custer but is highly romanticized. The Oliver Stone film The Doors , mainly about Jim Morrison ,

2150-462: Was a moderate hit at the box office, earning £ 4.3 million on a £1.2 million budget. The drama tells the story of John Lennon 's teenage years from 1955 to 1960. John was separated from his mother, Julia Lennon , when he was five. His aunt and uncle, Mimi and George Smith , raised him like a son. John is close to his Uncle George, who dies suddenly when John is 14. John becomes curious about his mother, who has since had three daughters, one of whom

2200-459: Was attended by Baird (who read from Lennon's writings and her own books) and Stanley Parkes (Lennon's Scottish cousin). Parkes said, "Me and Julia [Baird] are going to be going to the old family croft to tell stories". Musicians, painters and poets from across the UK performed at the festival. Baird now lives in Chester with her partner, Roger Keys. Baird claims she was never told that her mother

2250-597: Was born prematurely on 26 October 1949, Julia went back to the hospital every day to see her, although she was often not allowed (by Mimi) to visit Lennon. Dykins later managed several bars in Liverpool, which allowed Julia to stay at home at Blomfield Road, to look after Baird, Jackie, a cat named " Elvis ", and the 11-year-old Lennon, who had started to visit and occasionally stayed overnight. Baird would give up her bed to Lennon, and share Jackie's double bed. Dykins used to give Lennon weekly pocket money (one shilling ) for doing odd jobs, such as collecting golf balls on

2300-578: Was buried in the Allerton Cemetery , in Liverpool . Her grave is unmarked, and over the years its location was forgotten until it was recently identified by Jackie as "CE (Church of England) 38-805". Baird and Jackie were taken to live with the Birches and their son at The Dairy Cottage , which was owned by Mimi's husband, George Smith . At the age of 14 Baird was allowed to go into Liverpool city centre by herself, where she drank cappuccino coffee in

2350-1056: Was highly praised for the similarities between Jim Morrison and actor Val Kilmer , look-wise and singing-wise, but fans and band members did not like the way Val Kilmer portrayed Jim Morrison, and a few of the scenes were even completely made up. In rare cases, sometimes called auto biopics , the subject of the film plays themself. Examples include Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Muhammad Ali in The Greatest (1977), Audie Murphy in To Hell and Back (1955), Patty Duke in Call Me Anna (1990), Bob Mathias in The Bob Mathias Story (1954), Arlo Guthrie in Alice's Restaurant (1969), Fantasia in Life Is Not

2400-515: Was just one of those terrible things that happen." Baird and Jackie (aged eleven and eight respectively) were sent straightway to stay in Edinburgh at their Aunt Mater's, and were not allowed to attend the funeral. They were told two months later by their uncle, Norman Birch, that their mother had died. Birch and their maternal aunt, Harriet, were made legal guardians of the girls—ignoring Dykins' parentage, as he had never legally married Julia. Julia

2450-501: Was placed for adoption. He becomes obsessed with rock and roll music during a visit to Blackpool with Julia. When John is suspended from school, Julia allows him to stay at her house during the day to keep Mimi from finding out. Julia teaches John how to play the banjo. Mimi discovers their arrangement, but John refuses to go home with her and stays at Julia's. A week later, John overhears Julia and her common-law husband arguing about him, so he returns to Mimi's. When John wants to start

2500-540: Was several years older than Julia and worked at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool as a wine steward . Julia later moved into a small flat in Gateacre with Dykins, who had access to rationed goods like alcohol, chocolate, silks and cigarettes. The Stanley sisters called Dykins a " spiv ", because of his pencil-thin moustache, margarine -coated hair, and pork-pie hat , but the young Lennon called him "Twitchy" because of

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