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"FacebookPinterest\n\nThe Beatles are transparent\u2014an institutional landmark of pop culture\u2019s last half-century. Hell, even that spray-tanned chick in your building who thinks she\u2019s Snooki, knows her Paul\u2019s from her Pauli\u2019s and her Ringo\u2019s from her Ron Ron\u2019s. But then there\u2019s George\u2014the mysterious maestro of guitar; the bearded bastion of Buddha. For all his talent, influence, and ability to push the world\u2019s most famous rock \u2019n\u2019 roll crew into tripped-out, Maharishi hemispheres, the youngest Beatle always seemed to float in the shadows. Perhaps this is why Martin Scorsese took on the challenge of crafting what would become a two-part, four-hour documentary, exploring the man many called &amp;quot;the quiet one.&amp;quot;\n\nGeorge Harrison: Living In The Material World, which airs over two nights on October 5 and 6 on HBO, features an avalanche of interviews with the musicians and close friends who knew the guitarist best. None are as revealing as those with his wife, Olivia, who also served as producer, and his only son, Dhani. Now 33 and an accomplished musician in his own right\u2014he fronts the thenewno2, whose new EP, EP002, was released in September\u2014George\u2019s spitting image son was born almost a full decade after the Beatles\u2019s dissolution. Naturally, Dhani knew a different George. We chatted with Dhani about the documentary, getting validation from his idols, and his old pal, Wu-Tang Clan\u2019s the RZA.\n\nGQ: This film has your father\u2019s diehard fans feeling quite validated. How did it get off the ground?\n\n Dhani Harrison: The way it first started was my mother thinking about doing a documentary. One of her friends had dinner with Scorsese and the conversation over dinner was, &amp;quot;I\u2019m done doing documentaries.&amp;quot; He was like &amp;quot;What? What are you talking about? You\u2019re Martin Scorsese. Why don\u2019t you make some more?&amp;quot; He said &amp;quot;No, no. The only thing that I\u2019d be interested in doing would be a George Harrison documentary.&amp;quot; And my mom\u2019s friend said, &amp;quot;Well, that\u2019s funny \u2019cause I was just speaking with Olivia Harrison and she wants to do a documentary.&amp;quot; It literally came together just like that. [Martin and my mom] spoke on the phone and it was on.\n\nGQ: I\u2019ve read that you and your mother were quite inspired by Scorsese\u2019s Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home.\n\n Dhani Harrison: We love that documentary. You know that thing when Bob is standing there and is like [Editor\u2019s note: at this point Harrison makes his best effort to recite a scene in the film where Dylan, reading a store sign, mumbles jibberish.__] &amp;quot;I need someone to cut my clips, wash my clothes, wash my dog, deliver me back to the cigarettes, animal my soul.&amp;quot; That\u2019s classic.\n\nGQ: Good memory. I can only imagine you knew what you were getting into when you signed on to work with Scorsese. He\u2019s legendarily obsessive about his projects.\n\n Dhani Harrison: I mean, he\u2019s Martin Scorsese. Him and David Tedeschi, the editor [who also cut No Direction Home], both went and started meditating as a way to try and get to the core of the subject. They stuck with that. I think it\u2019s beneficial for everyone.\n\n [Dhani interrupts the conversation to attend his dog Edison.]\n\n Sorry my dog\u2019s got a squeaky toy that\u2019s really annoying. [To the dog] No squeaky toy for this interview, Edison.\n\nGQ: No worries. So you were talking about working with Scorsese.\n\n Dhani Harrison: So, I got to know him a little bit. He keeps it very true. He\u2019s a stickler. He\u2019s completely obsessive-compulsive. And you can see that. My mom\u2019s completely obsessive-compulsive. So they got on like a house on fire. A bunch of OCD people who are extremely talented doing this extreme job of archiving all the footage and everything.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nGQ: How did he uncover all of the outstanding, previously unseen footage that appears in the film?\n\n Dhani Harrison: We had a really great friend of mine who did all the archiving for the Harrison estate. This guy called Richard Brandford. He worked with a bunch of people from Marty\u2019s people who found footage that no one had ever seen before. They came out with all the great stuff. It\u2019s been about five years of just looking, speaking. Scorsese interviewed everyone three times. He interviewed me twice for about two hours each time. Then only used, what, 10 seconds. He\u2019s very thorough. He gets to the core of things. I think he\u2019s an incredible person.\n\nGQ: It must be bizarre to watch home movies become a three and a half documentary.\n\n Dhani Harrison: That\u2019s the bit that people really haven\u2019t seen. Everyone\u2019s seen the Beatles. There\u2019s no comparison to any form of documentaries that have been out before. It\u2019s totally different.\n\nGQ: Is it like reliving the past?\n\n Dhani Harrison: I was there for everything obviously from when I was born onward. I lived the life once with my dad. And then it\u2019s like watching your own life back through the eyes of Martin Scorsese...which is totally weird.\n\nGQ: You mentioned Scorsese started meditating for this project. I know your father was certainly high on it, but are you a big proponent of mediation?\n\n Dhani Harrison: That\u2019s the one thing that you have to do. Not for anyone\u2019s sake other than your own. Missing out on that, that\u2019s missing out on the real bit of life. We can all do festivals, interviews, and everything but if you\u2019re missing out on that, then that\u2019s a lot to leave on the table.\n\nGQ: Speaking of festivals, I got a chance to see you join Pearl Jam onstage at their recent 20th anniversary blowout festival. How do you know Eddie and the gang?\n\n Dhani Harrison: I met them at the Bob Dylan festival, the tribute concert back in \u201992. I was like 14 or something. We were in rehearsals. My dad laid me on them cause he had to go and do rehearsals. So he left me with Pearl Jam. They were like my heroes. They were just like &amp;quot;Okay Mr. Harrison&amp;quot; and looked after me. That was the night that Sinead O\u2019Connor got booed offstage. Remember that? I watched that whole thing go down from the wing of the stage with Kris Kristofferson, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. It was crazy. And then about a year ago I was in Seattle with Fistful of Mercy [a trio he fronts with Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur] and we ended up at Eddie\u2019s house, cause Ben Harper is obviously a really good friend of Eddie\u2019s. Basically we ended up over at Eddie\u2019s to play a game of Laird Hamilton ax darts\u2014I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve heard the stories about the ax darts. We played ax darts, and I think halfway through the evening, Eddie looked at me and was kinda like, &amp;quot;Oh my God, you\u2019re that kid! You were that kid from all those years ago, but you grew up.&amp;quot; And it was really funny \u2019cause he took me over to his stereo and he showed me that he had a copy of the Fistful of Mercy record. And I was just so blown away. Getting approval from your heroes is a very cool thing in life. I highly recommend it to anyone.\n\nGQ: I noticed the RZA, of all people, is on your other band, thenewno2\u2019s new EP. \n\n Dhani Harrison: RZA is an old pal. He\u2019s a really, really sweet guy. I\u2019m a huge Wu-Tang fan. ODB is my guy. I got a bit obsessed with him from the first time I heard his record. One day I got a call and [Wu-Tang\u2019s people] said, &amp;quot;Can we use your sample?&amp;quot; And I said &amp;quot;Of course you can. You\u2019re the Wu-Tang Clan.&amp;quot; So [RZA] returned the favor by playing on thenewno2.\n\nGQ: One last thought on the documentary. With so much personal interest vested in it, what do you hope people take away from the film?\n\n Dhani Harrison: [Long pause] Take from it what you will. We all know how it ends. It\u2019s heavy. [My dad] was a very interesting guy. I\u2019m still learning from him."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/dhani-harrison-george-harrison-hbo-documentary-martin-scorsese>