Long-time friend and Apple Corps manager Neil Aspinall had compiled footage of concert, interview, and television appearances from various sources around the world.
At this point, none of the former members had any involvement with the project, and plans for its release lay dormant until 1980, when John Lennon made a statement as part of a legal deposition against the producers of the musical Beatlemania.
"I and the other three former Beatles have plans to stage a reunion concert", he said, referring to an event that was to be filmed as a finale of The Long and Winding Road (which was now to be a television special).
His greatest dream was to recreate the musical magic of the early years with Paul, George and Ringo … (he) felt that they had traveled different paths for long enough.
Also interviewed were insiders Neil Aspinall, the band's press agent Derek Taylor, and their long-time producer George Martin.
[12] McCartney, Harrison and Starr "provided insights into their legend from the mature perspective of men in their fifties", according to Buskin, while "Lennon's [interviews] mostly originated from when he was in his twenties or thirties.
[12] The plans for a concert were abandoned and replaced with the intention that the surviving three members would play some incidental music in between segments and interviews.
Ono gave McCartney cassette tapes in 1994 after they appeared together on stage at Lennon's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The last one was left unfinished by the group,[13] but "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" were completed with producer Jeff Lynne in 1994–95 and premiered during the Anthology's initial broadcast.