Tenerife is getting another brush with Beatles history, this time on the big screen.
Filming is underway in Puerto de la Cruz and the Valle de La Orotava for Lennon Wasn’t Here, a fictional musical comedy inspired by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr’s holiday in Tenerife in 1963.
Directed by Canarian filmmaker JuanMa V. Betancort, filming began on 7 September and will spend most of its six-week production period in the north of Tenerife.
Puerto de la Cruz becomes part of the story
Around five weeks of the Tenerife shoot will take place at locations across the north, with Puerto de la Cruz playing a particularly important role.
The city isn’t simply being used as a backdrop. According to the production team, Puerto de la Cruz becomes something of a character in the film, thanks to its scenery and the parts of the city that have remained remarkably unchanged since the Beatles visited the island.
And that’s quite useful when you’re trying to recreate a bit of 1960s Tenerife without having to rebuild half the place.
A lost bass guitar and a Beatles museum
The story follows Astrid, played by Isabel Stoffel, and Lucy, played by Laura Martí, as they search for a lost McCartney bass guitar.
Their mission is to prevent the closure of Germany’s Beatlemania museum, leading the pair on a fictional adventure connected to the band’s history.
The cast also includes Pablo Carbonell, Anabel Alonso, Teddy Bautista, Javier Gurruchaga, Natalia Verbeke, Agustina Palma and Nicolás Scarpino.
The real Tenerife connection
The film is inspired by the Beatles’ actual visit to Tenerife, giving the production plenty of real history to work with.
One of the more unusual pieces of that history is the red Austin Healey Sprite convertible used by George Harrison and Ringo Starr during their stay in the Canary Islands.
The production also draws on correspondence from the period, helping connect the fictional story with the band’s real time on the island.
From Tenerife to Liverpool and Hamburg
Tenerife isn’t the only location involved.
Once filming on the island is completed, production will move to Liverpool and Hamburg next month, linking the three places through the Beatles’ history.
It’s a fitting geographical journey for a film that starts with the band’s connection to Tenerife before moving back towards two of the cities most closely associated with their story.
A Spanish-Argentinian production
Lennon Wasn’t Here is a Spanish-Argentinian co-production involving Argentina’s Frame and Tenerife-based Insularia Films, in partnership with the Beatles Museum in Liverpool.
The project has received support from the Canary Islands Government, Tenerife Island Council and Puerto de la Cruz Town Council, with additional contributions from Televisión Canaria and La Orotava Town Council.
For Tenerife, it is another opportunity to put the island’s connection with one of the world’s most famous bands back into the spotlight.
And this time, instead of simply telling the story of the Beatles’ Tenerife holiday, the island gets a starring role of its own.