The Beatles‘ “The Fool on the Hill” features in an important scene of a Steve Carell comedy. Subsequently, the film’s director revealed why Paul McCartney allowed the song to be in the movie. Notably, the movie was put up against a modern classic at the box office.
Why a director wanted The Beatles’ ‘The Fool on the Hill’ in a Steve Carell movie
During a 2010 blog for the Los Angeles Times, film critic Patrick Goldstein discussed crossing paths with Jay Roach. Roach is known for directing the Austin Powers trilogy as well as Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers. Goldstein asked Roach how he procured a very accurate cover of The Beatles’ “The Fool on the Hill” for his film Dinner for Schmucks. Roach revealed he used the original song in the movie.
Roach felt the song was necessary for the introduction of Carell’s character, Barry Speck. “I’d been floundering a little with how the movie should start and when our music editor put the song on, it just worked,” Roach said.
Jay Roach sent a letter to Paul McCartney discussing The Beatles’ ‘The Fool on the Hill’
Outside of The Beatles’ movies, only a handful of films feature the band’s original recordings. To get the rights to the song, Roach wrote a letter to Paul saying “The Fool on the Hill” was perfect for Dinner for Schmucks.
“It helped I think that we’d done an homage to A Hard Day’s Night in the first Austin Powers film, which I’d heard had been well received,” Roach opined. In addition, Roach’s wife, Susanna Hoffs from The Bangles, met Paul and even covered “Got to Get You into My Life” from Revolver.
“Still, I think the letter helped,” Roach said. “I wrote it as if I were the Minister of Storytelling, telling Paul all about the character that Carell plays, with all its irony and sweetness and sadness, and how the song really captured the mood of what was going on. And I admitted that I couldn’t think of any other way to start the film.”
How ‘Dinner for Schmucks’ performed when it went head-to-head with Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ at the box office
Dinner for Schmucks was not a huge hit. According to Box Office Mojo, the film cost $69 million to make. The movie earned over $73 million in the United States and over $13 million internationally. Across the globe, the movie made over $86 million.
According to Deadline, Dinner for Schmucks reached No. 2 during its opening weekend. The film was unable to outperform Inception, which became the No. 1 movie for the third week in a row.
Dinner for Schmucks isn’t a cultural touchstone like Inception but it has an unusual connection to the Fab Four.
