The video and DVD release of Cameron Crowe's dramatic thriller Vanilla Sky has been scheduled to be released on May 21. The DVD will include an interview with Sir Paul McCartney in which he talks about the title song he wrote for the film.
He May Perform at the Oscars Sir Paul was interviewed this morning by Katie Couric on NBC's Today show. She opened the interview by asking Sir Paul what made him want to tour now? "I just like to do it, you know, it's one of those things. Every so often I come out of hibernation and get on the road. After I did the Madison Square Garden concert, I just thought, 'You know what? I like this. This is what I do. Let's do a bit more of it'." Did the Concert for New York inspire him? "Yeah, that's what it was, really. I did the concert, because we had to, you know, we - we felt hopeless, and we were in New York at the time. We just felt, got to do something, like a lot of people felt, how can I help? So we did it for that reason. And it was just so great to look out over that sea of firefighters and just see the emotion and just feel the audience there. And I thought, 'I could get into this. I could do this for a living'." Will the concert play list include selections from every period of his musical career? "Yeah, I think that's probably the best thing to do, you know. As you say, I've written a lot of songs, and I'd like to try to represent something for everybody. Also, it keeps it kind of fresh for me, rather than just doing the rock 'n' roll, and rather than just doing The Beatles stuff or the Wings stuff. I'd like to do something from the new album, Driving Rain, too, which is going to be nice to do live." Then Sir Paul was asked to talk about his Oscar nominated song, Vanilla Sky. Is it true that Cameron Crowe asked him to write something for the movie? "That's right. We were in LA recording the album Driving Rain. And he came over to the studio, said, 'Hey, I've got this film going, you know, would you consider letting me use some of your music?' So we played him some music, and he was going to use that. And then he finally said, 'You know, I really would like it to be a title song.' I said, 'What's the title?' You know, because sometimes, those titles, you just can't write to. He said, 'Vanilla Sky.' I said, 'Vanilla Sky, high, fly, good-bye.' And, you know, I suddenly thought, 'Let me have a shot at it.' And I was feeling good, and I came up with something in a couple of days that he liked. So it went very well. You know, and he's a nice guy, so it's a good song. So..." Is it true that Cameron Crowe was told that if he didn't like it Sir Paul would release it under the title Manila Envelope? "Exactly. I said, 'I'm warning you, boy, you know, you turn this down, the title's changing immediately'." Will Sir Paul be attending the Oscar award ceremony? "Yeah, I'm hoping to, yeah. I'm quite excited about it. It's a big big deal." And will be be performing? "Yeah, they've asked me to. You know, at that second, I'll be in mad rehearsal for our tour, which we go out kind of a day or so after the Oscars. So I'm hoping it's not too frantic with the tour, but if everything goes well, yeah, I'll be there." On a sad note, losing George Harrison must have been a very sad time for him. "Yeah, it was. You know, I'd known George forever. He was my little mate who used to get on the bus, and we used to ride into school together for about half an hour, talking about guitars, and rock 'n' roll and stuff. So, you know, I'd known George longer than anyone in the group actually. So it was very sad, you know, it - it's always sad to see a dear friend go, someone like George, who's younger than me. It was very sad. For him, obviously, for his wife and son, it was a very sad time for all of us, and he'll be sorely missed by everyone. You know, so many people loved that man." On a happier note, Sir Paul and Heather Mills will be getting married soon? "Yeah, we are actually. Sometime in the summer, we've got a few things to do before, like the American tour. But after that, you know, sometime in the summer, we're going to get married." Katie Couric told Sir Paul she was happy for him and thanked him for the interview, but Sir Paul still had something to tell her : "Thank you very much, Katie. I'll tell you what, one quick thing. Rob says hi. He loves you. He's a friend of mine in New York. He loves you, Katie." Katie: "He does?"
Sir Paul: "Bye."
Katie: "Well, you tell him I said hi, too, whoever Rob is."
Sir Paul: "OK. All right."
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