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Here’s What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in  Love & Mercy , the New Biopic About Brian Wilson

© 2015 - Roadside Attractions

In  Love & Mercy , the new biopic about the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, there’s a scene in which legendary studio musician and Wrecking Crew bass player Carol Kaye notices something unusual about the sheet music that Wilson has set in front of her: “Two different bass lines in two different keys?” she asks. “How does that work?” “It works in my head,” Wilson replies. In many ways, this also sums up the approach of the film, which could be said to work in two different keys at once: It cuts back and forth between two very specific periods of Wilson’s life, Wilson’s songwriting heyday of the mid-1960s and his time under the control of Dr. Eugene Landy in the mid-1980s.

But what’s fact and what’s artistic license in these two portrayals? I consulted several sources to find out, including Peter Ames Carlin’s acclaimed biography of Wilson,  Catch A Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson , as well as “Beach Boys: A California Saga,” an  in-depth   two-part  article about the band published in  Rolling Stone  in 1971. While  Love & Mercy  makes some perhaps necessary adjustments to simplify the musician’s story, the film is generally quite meticulous in its presentation of the events of Wilson’s life—not least because because co-screenwriter Oren Moverman  consulted Wilson, now 72, and his wife, Melinda , while writing the screenplay.

Brian Wilson in the mid-1960s (Paul Dano)

Brian Wilson/Wikipedia. Still of Paul Dano courtesy of © 2015 Roadside Attraction

Paul Dano plays the young, baby-faced songwriter as a vulnerable, earnest musical prodigy and a perfectionist in the studio, just as he was in real life. The 1971 Rolling Stone profile describes Wilson’s recording process during this period: “At a session he would go around to each player, take the instrument from him, show him what he wanted, and hand it back. Once that was accomplished he could go into the booth and take over the board. Sometimes he would mix the track even as it was being recorded.”

Just as in the movie, Wilson has also been deaf in his right ear at least since childhood, but accounts differ on whether this was caused by a blow to the head from his abusive father Murry Wilson, as the movie suggests. Murry denied that he caused it, and Brian thinks it’s possible that he was deaf from birth. Wilson’s father also really did acquire authority over his son’s share of Sea of Tunes, the publishing company that owned the copyrights to most of the Beach Boys’ songs, before selling them to A&M records for $700,000. (Exactly how Murry managed this would later be the subject of lawsuits.) Exactly when Wilson began taking LSD is the subject of some debate, but in a 2006 interview Wilson said that he started hearing voices shortly thereafter .

Mike Love (Jake Abel) and the Beach Boys

Most of the other Beach Boys—Brian’s brothers Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson, and childhood friend Al Jardine, are minor characters in the movie—with one exception: Brian’s cousin Mike Love, who is portrayed a foil to the songwriter.

Love & Mercy depicts Love as focused on the band’s profits and frustrated with Brian’s perfectionism, his mental illness, and his drug use. (Though the film doesn’t always specify the drugs Wilson used over the years—especially during his darker periods—they included cocaine, cannabis, and amphetamines, in addition to LSD.) This portrayal is more or less accurate, if understandably one-sided: The notoriously adversarial relationship between Brian and his cousin led to disputes over songwriting credits and ownership of the band’s name, and their disagreements have continued all the way up through the Beach Boys’ recent 50 th anniversary tour .

Brian Wilson in the 1970s and 1980s (John Cusack)

Brian Wilson in the 1980’s and John Cusack in Love & Mercy

Photo of Brian Wilson by Ebet Roberts/Redferns. Still of John Cusack courtesy of © 2015 Roadside Attraction

The darkest chapter of Brian’s life, the period during which he was rumored to be essentially catatonic in bed for two years during the mid-1970s, occurs mostly off-screen. Stories of this period are so central to the Brian Wilson mythos that they became the inspiration for the Barenaked Ladies song “ Brian Wilson ” (a song which the musician himself has since performed).

Love & Mercy openly addresses this rumor by having Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks) ask the musician outright if it’s true, to which Cusack’s character responds, “Actually, it was more like three [years]. At least, that’s what I tell people.” The response seems genuine: Though the real-life Brian spent a great deal of that time in bed, he was also taking drugs, drinking, overeating, and going to clubs, including the bar at the Chateau Marmont.

Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks)

Melinda Ledbetter in 2002 and still of Elizabeth Banks in Love & Mercy

Melinda Ledbetter by REUTERS/Jim Ruymen. Still of Elizabeth Banks courtesy of © 2015 Roadside Attraction

The film is most precise in its recreation of the details of Brian’s courtship of his future wife, perhaps due to the real-life Melinda Wilson’s involvement in the film’s production . Melinda Ledbetter did meet her husband while working at Martin Cadillac, and he did buy the first car she showed him, a brown Seville. Although moments like Brian telling his future wife about the death of his brother Dennis while at a Cadillac dealership might seem contrived to cram in some exposition, Brian really did tell her then about how two years prior Dennis drowned , according to Catch a Wave . Similarly, before their first date, Wilson really did stand in the courtyard outside Ledbetter’s apartment, shouting her name. One difference: Eugene Landy did not actually accompany them on that date. Instead, his assistants did, and he called to check in several times.

Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti)

Eugene Landy in the 1980s and Paul Giamatti in the movie Love & Mercy

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns. Paul Giamatti courtesy of © 2015 Roadside Attraction

Ultimately, in a film full of minor villains like Murry and Love, it is Landy who becomes Love & Mercy’s main antagonist. A hairpiece-clad Giamatti plays the role with such a terrifying blend of smarm and rage that the real Brian Wilson, when interviewed about the film, called the performance so true to life that it frightened him . Landy’s actions may seem too extreme to be plausible, but the doctor did in fact exert around-the-clock control over Brian’s life, monitoring his diet and love life, influencing his music, and keeping him drugged on heavy medication for what he falsely claimed was a mix of paranoid schizophrenia and manic depression. (The diagnosis was later overturned, and Melinda now says he has “ schizoaffective disorder, which is a manic depressive with auditory hallucinations .”)

Where the film does take artistic liberties is in its depiction of how Brian came to be rescued from Landy’s care. In the film, it is Ledbetter, aided by Brian’s housekeeper, Gloria Ramos, who persuades Carl Wilson to intervene by presenting evidence of Landy’s undue influence—specifically a 1989 will leaving most of Brian’s assets to Landy. The will is real: Landy was named Wilson’s primary beneficiary, though he claimed no knowledge of this at the time. But Carlin instead credits therapist and longtime Beach Boys fan Peter Reum with bringing Brian’s condition to the attention of Carl Wilson and biographer David Leaf. Reum, according to Carlin, noticed at a 1990 fan convention the physical changes Brian had undergone. However, Gloria Ramos is thanked in the credits of several of Brian’s albums, along with Leaf.

• Here’s What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Bessie , HBO’s New Bessie Smith Biopic
• Here’s What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Jersey Boys , Clint Eastwood’s Four Seasons Biopic

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Love & Mercy

2014, Biography/Drama, 2h 0m

What to know

Critics Consensus

As unconventional and unwieldy as the life and legacy it honors, Love & Mercy should prove moving for Brian Wilson fans while still satisfying neophytes. Read critic reviews

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Love & mercy videos, love & mercy   photos.

In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, Wilson (John Cusack), under the sway of a controlling therapist, finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.

Rating: PG-13 (Language|Drug Content|Thematic Elements)

Genre: Biography, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Bill Pohlad

Producer: Bill Pohlad , Claire Rudnick Polstein , John Wells

Writer: Oren Moverman , Michael A. Lerner

Release Date (Theaters): Jun 5, 2015  limited

Release Date (Streaming): Jun 18, 2016

Box Office (Gross USA): $12.5M

Runtime: 2h 0m

Distributor: Lionsgate Films, Roadside Attractions

Production Co: River Road, Battle Mountain Films

Cast & Crew

John Cusack

Older Brian Wilson

Young Brian Wilson

Elizabeth Banks

Melinda Ledbetter

Paul Giamatti

Dr. Eugene Landy

Murry Wilson

Joanna Going

Audree Wilson

Dee Wallace

Kenny Wormald

Dennis Wilson

Marilyn Wilson

Brett Davern

Carl Wilson

Graham Rogers

Bill Pohlad

Oren Moverman

Screenwriter

Michael A. Lerner

Claire Rudnick Polstein

Executive Producer

Jim Lefkowitz

Robert Yeoman

Cinematographer

Dino Jonsäter

Film Editing

Atticus Ross

Original Music

Keith P. Cunningham

Production Design

Danny Glicker

Costume Design

Andrew Max Cahn

Art Director

News & Interviews for Love & Mercy

Elizabeth Banks’ 10 Best Movies

New Certified Fresh Movies and TV to Stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime This Week

Winners List for the Critics’ Choice Awards 2016

Critic Reviews for Love & Mercy

Audience reviews for love & mercy.

A look at the year or two that proved to be the most creative for Mr. Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, the reckless self-medication that accompanied those times (as well as ever-so-slight nods as to why he did), and what was left of the man when he emerged from the other side. It's okay but it's very clean, and certainly not the tale of a survivor that it hints that it might be.

As the child of 2 parents who love The Beach Boys this movie appealed to me. The story isn't really of the rise and fall of Brian Wilson, it is mainly about the fall of Wilson and it made for a great story

A top knotch musical bio that will make you admire Brian Wilson even though his life story is not easy to comprehend. Dano and Cusack are fantastic in duo roles and Elizabeth Banks has never been better as WIlson's girlfriend and eventual wife. Polhad directs masterfully and gives you real insight into Wilson's musical genius as he creates the album Pet Sounds. GIamatti also shines as the villain. A sure don't miss film for Beach Boy fans and music lovers alike. 02-01-2016

Love & Mercy is the story of Beach Boys singer/song writer Brian Wilson and his struggles with mental illness. Starring John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti, and Paul Dano, the cast is quite impressive and gives strong performances. The film follows in parallel two storylines, one of Wilson in middle-age as he starts dating a Cadillac saleswoman named Melinda who tries to help him break free of the manipulation and control of his therapist (who'd taken advantage of Wilson's mental health issues); while the other plot follows Wilson during the late '60s when his disorder led the Beach Boys to start touring without him and eventual to rewrite his music. However, the script isn't really able to juggle these two stories and comes off more as Cliff Notes. Yet despite its fragmented feel, Love & Mercy is a compelling drama that's both tragic and inspirational.

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Review: ‘Love & Mercy’ Gets Inside Brian Wilson’s Head

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Anatomy of a Scene | ‘Love & Mercy’

Bill pohlad narrates a sequence from his film about brian wilson, featuring paul dano..

By A.O. Scott

• June 4, 2015

The first thing you see in “ Love & Mercy ” is an extreme close-up of Brian Wilson’s ear. It’s a startling image, and it holds out a twofold promise: that the film will take viewers inside its protagonist’s head and that it will pay particular attention to the role that sound played in his life.

For the most part, this movie, a smart, compassionate, refreshingly unconventional biopic directed by Bill Pohlad, makes good on both promises, exploring the mental world and the artistic method of a great artist. It’s a loving tribute to the Beach Boys and the man responsible for their distinctive sound, but it goes to deeper and stranger places than most movies of its kind. On screen, the lives of musicians tend to follow a tried-and-true outline: A rise to fame is followed by a personal and professional crisis, often involving drugs, which is followed by a redemptive third act. What is often missing from the formula is any real insight into the reason we might be interested in the first place, which is the music. We might see our idol, more or less persuasively impersonated by a hard-working actor, strumming a guitar or noodling at a piano, but the complicated labor of creativity is notoriously hard to show on screen.

Mr. Pohlad, an accomplished producer who had the cooperation of Mr. Wilson and his wife, Melinda, doesn’t just overcome this challenge; he makes witnessing the creation of a record as exciting as hearing a classic song for the first time. One of the best things about “Love & Mercy,” which was written by Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner, is how long it lingers in the recording studio, observing as Brian, played in his 20s by Paul Dano, is putting together “ Pet Sounds ,” by consensus one of the great albums of its era.

The attention to detail in these scenes provides a feast for geeks of all kinds, as the camera lovingly ogles microphones, amplifiers and consoles that were state of the art in the mid-1960s. Watching Brian, with his boyish face and eager puppy-dog manner, adjusting the knobs and directing the session players, is like watching a kid in a toy store. He is freer and more confident than ever before, layering and sculpting improbable instruments and bewitching harmonies into songs that are at once exquisitely simple and astonishingly sophisticated.

The making of “Pet Sounds” is the centerpiece of “Love & Mercy.” It also represents a plateau of calm and control in the midst of a life full of chaos and pain. Instead of telling the story in full, the film shifts back and forth — fluidly and seamlessly — from the ’60s to the ’80s, when Brian, now played by John Cusack , first meets Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), in a Cadillac showroom in Los Angeles. Their courtship is complicated by the presence of Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), a psychologist who serves as Brian’s guru, dietitian and legal guardian.

Working together — but also in isolation from each other, like musicians in separate recording booths — Mr. Cusack and Mr. Dano create a remarkable composite performance, a set of before-and-after pictures that is also a perfectly unified, hauntingly complex portrait. Mr. Dano, gentle and inscrutable as a panda bear, conveys the pathos of a young man’s unraveling. The Beach Boys were a family business, including Brian’s brothers Carl (Brett Davern) and Dennis (Kenny Wormald) and their cousin Mike Love (Jake Abel). Their rise, chronicled in a lively montage of early hits, was overseen by Murry Wilson (Bill Camp), an abusive patriarch who hung around to undermine and humiliate his sons, Brian in particular, even after being fired as the group’s manager.

The movie is careful not to push too far into Freudian psychodrama. Brian’s mental collapse is not directly attributed to his abusive father or to the pressures of fame. At a certain point, the sounds in his head take on a sinister cast, and his odd behavior and paranoid ramblings frighten his bandmates and his first wife, Marilyn (Erin Darke). LSD doesn’t help. By the time he meets Melinda, though, his breakdown is in the past. He strikes her as a sweet, soft-spoken eccentric, a pampered rich guy who is also kind and vulnerable. He shocks her sometimes by referring almost casually to the trauma and abuse in his past and gradually reveals the terror that governs his present-day life.

If the ’60s half of “Love & Mercy” is, in part, a trippy excursion into a golden piece of the California past, the ’80s section is a spooky Los Angeles noir. Told almost entirely from Melinda’s perspective, it follows her discovery of the hidden, sinister dimensions of Dr. Landy’s apparent benevolence. A jolly, friendly fellow on the surface, Landy is both a one-of-a-kind creep (Mr. Giamatti’s smile will give you nightmares, as will his hair) and a recognizable type of villain. Melinda, whose sunny disposition masks a steely, icy resolve, makes a very satisfying foil, and Ms. Banks’s astute performance, in a series of eye-catching period-appropriate outfits, is what binds the film together. Melinda is the only person who can love and appreciate Brian for who he is, and as such she is the stand-in for the rest of us, who admire what he accomplished.

This film deepens that appreciation and illuminates its sources. Mr. Pohlad’s deft narrative sense and careful visual style are complemented by the work of Atticus Ross, whose sonic collages —“score” doesn’t quite do justice to his achievement — take us deeper inside a musical mind than we might have thought possible. “Love & Mercy” doesn’t claim to solve the mystery of Brian Wilson, but it succeeds beyond all expectation in making you hear where he was coming from.

“Love & Mercy” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Not all the vibrations are good.

A film review on Friday about “Love & Mercy,” which portrays the relationship between the Beach Boys singer Brian Wilson and his therapist, Eugene Landy, described Dr. Landy’s credentials incorrectly. He earned a Ph.D in psychology; he was not a psychiatrist.

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Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road review – good vibrations in kindly portrait

There’s smart input from Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and others, but this documentary really excels in its moments of intimacy as Wilson revisits his past

T his documentary sets out on a noble but foolhardy mission: to examine the history of Brian Wilson with the man himself. Wilson turns 80 this summer, and he is showing his age. His recent singing on stage can be faltering, almost conversational at times, and the mental health problems he has weathered during his life make interviews difficult: he is often nervous to the point of monosyllables .

And yet director Brent Wilson (no relation), working with Rolling Stone journalist Jason Fine, creates an evocative piece under the circumstances: kindly film-making that puts Wilson at ease, and allows for some rare, unusual portraiture of the Beach Boys mastermind.

It centres on a May-September bromance between Fine and Wilson. The former, who has interviewed Wilson a number of times and befriended him, drives him around the various houses he’s lived in across the Los Angeles area. “When you get scared, what do you do, take a deep breath?”, Wilson asks Fine early on. “When I’m scared, I listen to you talk.” Wilson seems deep in a second childhood, with Fine his patient and loving father.

Supported by archive footage, Fine drives him through the chronology of the Beach Boys and Wilson’s life: surfing-mad early hits building the ambition of Pet Sounds and Smile, before drug misuse, overeating, mental breakdowns, and exploitation at the hands of psychologist Eugene Landy. Despite Fine’s conversational interviewing, Wilson is still not enormously articulate or forthcoming, though it’s nice to see him reminisce, however simply, and there are plenty of powerful, telling moments. Filmed in the passenger seat, emotion passes across Wilson’s face like weather, and he frequently asks Fine to play the Beach Boys song It’s OK on the car stereo (“Good or bad, glad or sad / It’s all gonna pass, so it’s OK”).

The analysis instead comes from some starry talking heads. Half the time, these tend towards the broad statements of awe that populate documentaries of this sort; a more radical film would have avoided this very standard framework altogether. But Elton John is typically articulate, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James (who contributes a new song with Wilson to the soundtrack, Right Where I Belong) is interesting on the architecture of Wilson’s songcraft, Nick Jonas is evocative on the cruelty of expectation, and Don Was movingly boggles at the isolated vocal parts of God Only Knows, hammering home the heavenly, near-aggressive beauty of Wilson’s arrangement. Bruce Springsteen is a pithy and clever interrogator of Wilson’s work throughout, for instance when he discusses Caroline No and Pet Sounds: “Reckoning with the adult world and the terrible heartache that comes along with it … joyfulness even in the pain of living; joyfulness of an emotional life.”

But there’s a grave misstep when the voice of Wilson’s abusive father is laid over Wilson looking silently panicked as he’s filmed in a new studio session. Wilson has auditory hallucinations as a symptom of his schizoaffective disorder, and so to suggest what those voices in his head are, in order to advance the documentary narrative, is crass and deeply unethical.

However this is offset by the sensitivity elsewhere, including the time spent exploring his relationships with Wilson’s late beloved brothers and bandmates Dennis and Carl. This results in an unmissable moment: it turns out Wilson has never heard Dennis’s solo album masterpiece Pacific Ocean Blue, so Fine plays it to him, and once again, it’s enough to just watch the waves of feelings swell and break across Wilson’s face as he listens.

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Movie Reviews

A simplified brian wilson in 'love and mercy'.

Mark Jenkins

Paul Dano plays a young Brian Wilson in Love and Mercy . Francois Duhamel/Roadside Attractions hide caption

Paul Dano plays a young Brian Wilson in Love and Mercy .

Wouldn't it be nice if Beach Boy Brian Wilson's troubled life were as easily understood as Love & Mercy makes it appear? Where the Pet Sounds auteur is known for multi-part harmonies, director Bill Pohlad's biopic is a series of simple duets.

Scripter Oren Moverman, who shares credit with Michael Alan Lerner but is reportedly the principal writer, summoned seven Dylans for I'm Not There . Here he presents just two Brians: one from 1963-67, and another from roughly two decades later. The first is artistically agile, but beginning to lose his psychological balance; the second is essentially imprisoned, and ready to break free.

Crucially, the movie also juggles two acting styles. Paul Dano takes a cinematic approach to the younger Brian, even packing on some baby-genius fat to more closely resemble the Beach Boy who preferred junk food and cigarettes to surfing (or touring with the band). John Cusack's version of the older man is more distanced and theatrical, without attempts at either physical or psychological impersonation. The performance is amiable but not very convincing, and doesn't mesh with the literal-minded rest of the movie.

Music Interviews

Telling brian wilson's fractured life story on film.

The two chapters are interwoven, with equal emphasis on both. That makes some sense, since the making of Pet Sounds is virtually guaranteed to elicit smiley smiles, even from fans who know the history well enough to see how it's been condensed and elided.

Yet the later story has more dramatic potential. After years of little musical output, Wilson is under the 24-hour-a-day authority of psychologist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), who controls the onetime pop prodigy with drugs the therapist is not legally allowed to prescribe. The becalmed Beach Boy is rescued by Cadillac saleswoman Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), who sues Landy and eventually marries Brian.

Giamatti and Banks both give enthusiastic but predictable performances in shallowly written roles. Cusack portrays the Landy-dominated Brian as child-like and sometimes fearful, but capable of sly self-awareness. This seems unlikely, given his '80s diet of sedatives and anti-psychotics.

Aside from the heroic Ledbetter, Wilson's relationships are mostly with villains: Landy, of course, but also his father Murry (Bill Camp) and cousin and bandmate Mike Love (Jake Abel). Those two want hits, and don't appreciate Brian's attempts to expand the group's style and lace the fun-fun-fun with wistfulness and rue.

To acknowledge Wilson's many collaborators, the movie fleetingly introduces two of them, Tony Asher and Van Dyke Parks. But it doesn't explain what either of them did. (Asher wrote most of Pet Sounds ' lyrics, and Parks served repeatedly as Wilson's lyrical and musical foil.) It's easier to dramatize a lone prodigy, so the movie makes all the good musical ideas appear to be Brian's. In reality, even Mike Love had his moments.

Love & Mercy is named, curiously, for a 1988 song that Wilson supposedly co-wrote with Landy. (The extent of the therapist's contribution has been questioned.) But the movie wisely concentrates on the mid-'60s music, making expert use of the vocal-free backing tracks released on the Pet Sounds box set. Even Atticus Ross' shattered-pop score, used to evoke Wilson's alienation and auditory hallucinations, is cut and pasted mostly from Beach Boys ditties.

Those tunes wouldn't be remembered so fondly, however, if they were all sadness, self-doubt, and the disconnection Pohlad visualizes by showing Wilson behind windows or reflected in mirrors. So the final song, which ends a flawed movie with an immaculate burst of joy? Let's just say it's not "Hang on to Your Ego."

Brian Wilson

• Born June 20 , 1942 · Inglewood, California, USA
• Birth name Brian Douglas Wilson
• Height 6′ 1¼″ (1.86 m)
• Brian Douglas Wilson was born on June 20th 1942 and has gone on to become one of, if not the greatest, musical geniuses in the world. It was while growing up, while being physically and psychologically abused by his father, that he discovered music as a way of shutting out all hurt and pain that he was feeling at home. As he listened to Four Freshmen records and records of that day, he noticed that he had a flair for writing and arranging music in his own particular style: using his two younger brothers, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson along with first cousin Mike Love , Brian recreated songs for them to sing along to. Eventually after they had started singing for many years at family parties and in their room, Mike told Brian that they needed to form a group. Along with college friend Al Jardine , they formed The Beach Boys , releasing their first song "Surfin'" to popular reviews. When Brian's father Murry decided that he should be their manager, he set up The Beach Boys with a contract at Capitol Records and helped them embark on a seven year contract with the company. Within the first two years, Brian made himself the leader of the group and was, uniquely, writer/producer/arranger/musician and lead vocalist of the band. It was clear from the very early years that Brian was the one destined to take The Beach Boys into the spotlight. Along the way, mainly with Mike Love , he wrote a handful of top forty singles, including "California Girls", "Surfin' USA", "Surfer Girl", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Don't Worry Baby", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "God Only Knows" and the three number one hits in America, "I Get Around", "Help Me, Rhonda" and "Good Vibrations", which was also a hit in Britain, and a second UK #1 single, "Do It Again". In two years of recording at Capitol, Brian fell prone to a nervous breakdown which came from the stress of all his duties. He decided at the end of 1964 that he would exclude himself from touring and would stay at home and write, produce and arrange the songs so the group could go out on the road and return to some wonderful material. Brian was satisfied for the moment, but with the increase of his use of marijuana and LSD, became prone to spend his time with his drug-filled friends and his sanity was now becoming a problem as he was starting to hear voices. However, that did not stop him creating two of his greatest albums in 1965, "Beach Boys Today!" and "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). It was in 1966 that he finally showed the world that he was the leader of the pack. After being inspired by The Beatles ' "Rubber Soul", Brian went on to create one of the greatest albums of all time, "Pet Sounds." This album became a milestone in music and went on to influence many of the greatest artists of the next four decades. Brian's next ambition was to top "Pet Sounds". The album was to be called "Dumb Angel", but he later changed it to "Smile", an album made with the same amount of genius and ambition as that of The Beach Boys ' greatest single, "Good Vibrations". "Smile" was never completed and it has since been called the greatest album never released. Wilson's work as a composer in creating albums -- Side B of the Beach Boys' "Today" album, the "Pet Sounds" and "SMiLE" albums being highlights -- was considered all but lost until his most recent work. In 2008 he released the spectacular song cycle/concept album "That Lucky Old Sun", a love letter to his native southern California; in 2010 he released the remarkable "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin", in which he puts the classic Brian Wilson touch to the only other American rival composer from the 20th century covering many classic George Gershwin pop hits; in 2012 he wrote, produced, and sang lead on much of the Beach Boys' reunion album "That's Why God Made The Radio", featuring another remarkable Side B of beautiful melodies and harmonies. These three recent albums have all been critically acclaimed and have sold well, confirming once and for all the mid-70s cliché that Brian Is Back. Brian Wilson's pop songwriting has, quite arguably, been featured in more movies than any other 20th century songwriter, from the mid-60s beach movies (if he didn't write the music himself, at least he influenced his disciples Roger Christian & Gary Usher) to recent baby boomer flicks (i.e., Forrest Gump (1994) , Love Actually (2003) ) and Gen Y comedies (i.e., 50 First Dates, Orange County, Happy Feet). - IMDb Mini Biography By: Simon Edwards
• Spouses Melinda Ledbetter (February 6, 1995 - January 30, 2024) (her death, 5 children) Marilyn Wilson (December 7, 1964 - June 6, 1981) (divorced, 2 children)
• Children Daria Rose Wilson Dakota Rose Wilson Delanie Rae Wilson Dash Tristan Wilson Dylan Wilson Carnie Wilson Wendy Wilson
• Parents Murry Wilson Audree Wilson
• Relatives Mike Love (Cousin) Carl Wilson (Sibling) Dennis Wilson (Sibling) Justyn Wilson (Niece or Nephew) Carl Wilson (Niece or Nephew) Michael Wilson (Niece or Nephew) Lola Bonfiglio (Grandchild)
• The "Wall of Sound", popularized by Phil Spector .
• Turned in a composition called "Surfin'" to his high school music theory teacher, which got an F, but eventually became a million dollar hit.
• Years of smoking six packs of cigarettes a day damaged his voice; even though he no longer smokes, he sings without the range and smoothness of his early days. When he performs Beach Boys songs during shows, another vocalist often takes Wilson's former parts, while Wilson takes the parts recorded by Mike Love . He has referred to having a chest x-ray after he quit smoking as the bravest thing he ever did.
• Names "California Girls" his favorite song out of all the songs he has written.
• In December 2000 at a Christmas party of a friends, when told he could "tickle the ivories" unexpectedly began to play "Heroes and Villians", which he refused to play since 1967. For over 20 years, whenever anybody asked him about the song, he would refuse to talk about it saying "It's not appropriate" or "No comment." After he played the song, someone said "You should do that at the tribute show", a tribute to Wilson was being planned for the spring of 2001. He agreed and for the first time since he wrote it, performed the song at An All-Star Tribute To Brian Wilson (2001). He said that the reaction to his performance led him to decide to finish and perform SMiLE, which had been sitting on the shelf for well over 30 years.
• With the death of brother Carl Wilson in 1998, he became the last surviving original member of the Wilson family.
• I'm not a genius. I'm just a hard working guy.
• I'd earned over a million dollars by the time I was old enough to vote.
• "My new band is better then The Beach Boys ".
• "The Four Freshmen influenced me the most, with their great harmonies. Whew! The greatest".
• For me, making music has always been a very spiritual thing, and I think anybody who produces records has to feel that, at least a little bit. Producing a record, the idea of taking a song, envisioning the overall sound in my head and then bringing the arrangement to life in the studio, well that gives me satisfaction like nothing else.

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New Documentary Dives Deep Into Life of Brian Wilson

• By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

Brian Wilson ‘s life has been chronicled in countless books, movies and documentaries over the years, but nearly all of them focus either on his 1960s heyday as the creative force behind the Beach Boys or the difficult decades that followed in which he struggled with mental illness, obesity, drug addiction and the pernicious influence of therapist Dr. Eugene Landy. The time period that started 20 years ago when he began touring as a solo artist and creating brilliant new music has largely been ignored, but a new documentary by director Brent Wilson (no relation) aims to correct that. The as-yet-untitled film offers unprecedented access into Wilson’s life and thoughts as he travels around Los Angeles with Rolling Stone Editor Jason Fine.

“It felt like a good time to look back,” says Brian Wilson. “I have so many memories in L.A. of growing up, all the good times with my band – we were just kids when we started, and of course memories of my brothers Dennis and Carl, who I miss so much.

“Over the years Jason and I have had a lot of fun times — just relaxing and listening to music, talking at the deli and cruising down to Malibu for sushi, so we got into that groove to make this movie,” he adds. “I hope it shows people the love I feel and the hope I have to share love through my music.”

The film also contains new interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Jim James, Nick Jonas, Taylor Hawkins, Gustavo Dudamel, Jakob Dylan, Bob Gaudio and other artists influenced by Wilson’s music.

Brent Wilson began work on a documentary on the musician after speaking with him for his 2017 Doo-Wop documentary Streetlight Harmonies , but the initial interviews didn’t go well. “He almost had a physical reaction to me putting a microphone on him,” he says. “He’s hated being interviewed and he’s answered every question a million times. They were both 20 minutes of pain. He just wasn’t into it. After the second one I thought to myself, ‘Man, I’ve got no film here. I’m done. My career is over. This is it.'”

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It was at that point that Brian Wilson’s publicist and manager, Jean Sievers, suggested that he speak with Fine since he’d grown close to the Beach Boys legend writing about him for Rolling Stone over the years. “Doing my research for the film I had read a lot of Jason’s articles about Brian,” says Brent Wilson. “The one I loved the most was Brian Wilson’s Better Days from 2015 where they drive around L.A. together and just talk. Visually, that’s what I wanted for this film. I wanted to hang with Brian for a couple of days.”

Wilson and his crew captured the musician hanging out with Fine at his favorite spots all over Los Angeles, along with footage of Wilson recording new music in the studio and playing on the road. “Brian has lived in Los Angeles his entire life,” says Fine. “Being there with him is such a cool experience because this is his town, and he’s got memories on every corner.”

In the car was an iPhone filled with all of Wilson’s music and other artists albums he loves most, and periodically he’d call for a random tune from his past and start talking about it. “He’d be like, ‘Do you have the Beach Boys’ [1977] album Love You? ,'” says Fine. “‘I’d love to hear ‘The Night Was So Young.’ A lot of the music is not the stuff you’d think. It’s obscure stuff that he really identifies with.”

Time and time again, Wilson speaks about his brothers Dennis and Carl Wilson. “Especially when he hears their voices in the music, their loss really weighs heavily on his mind,” says Fine.

Contrary to many people’s misconceptions about Wilson’s mental state, he is eloquent, introspective and surprisingly funny throughout the film. “One of my goals for the movie was to find the real Brian Wilson,” says Brent Wilson. “That’s because Brian is a myth. There are songs about Brian. People make paintings of him and create movies about him. He’s a myth, but I don’t think the myth is particularly accurate.”

Unlike most music documentaries, it doesn’t attempt to present a linear narrative. “It’s more like an impressionist painting,” says Brent Wilson. “It’s definitely not a biographical film. It’s not linear in any fashion. It’s more of an impressionistic film with the music as the driving force that carries it through…I feel like we’ve got something different here. I’ve never seen a biopic like this before. I’m hoping it’ll be received for what it is, a beautiful, honest portrait of Brian.”

The documentary is currently finishing production and is slated for release in 2019.

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Brian Wilson

Who Is Brian Wilson?

Brian Wilson formed the Beach Boys in 1961 and had a long string of hit singles and albums, helping to establish the “California sound” along the way. By the mid-60s, however, Wilson looked to move beyond the cheery, simple, teen-based formula that characterized much of the Beach Boys’ early music. The result was 1966’s Pet Sounds , which is ranked by many as one of the greatest albums of all time. But at the peak of his creative powers, substance abuse and mental illness took their toll on Wilson, who for much of the next 25 years lived in seclusion. After breaking free from psychologist Eugene Landy, who exerted an excessive amount of control over Wilson’s life during the 1980s, Wilson revived his career and released several solo albums in the 1990s.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, remarried in 1995 and was honored by the Kennedy Center in 2007 for lifetime contribution to the performing arts. Since that time he has continued to tour and record albums and was also the subject of the 2014 biopic Love & Mercy .

Early Life and Childhood

Brian Douglas Wilson was born in Inglewood, California, on June 20, 1942. But while the Wilson family lived an outwardly normal, middle-class suburban life, at home Wilson and his younger brothers—Dennis and Carl—endured a rough childhood. They were subjected to regular physical and mental abuse by their father, Murry, and their mother, Audree Wilson, was by all accounts an alcoholic. Despite this background of turmoil, the Wilson home was a musical one. Murry was an aspiring—though only vaguely successful—songwriter, and both he and Audree played piano. Wilson and his brothers would often sing along with them in the living room, developing an early ability to harmonize with one another, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that Wilson was mostly deaf in one ear.

Wilson remembers his childhood with mixed feelings, once telling an interviewer, “I had a good childhood—except for my dad beating me up all the time.” But as Wilson grew older, he increasingly turned to music as an escape from the pain of his home life. Along with his two younger brothers and their cousin, Mike Love, Wilson began performing at parties and small gatherings. In the late 1950s the four relatives joined with Hawthorne High School friend Al Jardine to form a band called the Pendletones, a name chosen because of the popular Pendleton flannel shirts that became the group’s uniform in the early days. The group featured Brian on bass, Carl and Al on guitar and Dennis on drums. Though Mike and Brian would take most of the lead on vocals, every member lent his voice to their layered harmonic sound.

'Surfin' Safari'

In October 1961, the Pendletones recorded demos of two surfing-themed songs, “Surfin’” and “Surfin’ Safari.” Although Dennis was the only member of the group who actually surfed, the band sought to tap into the rising popularity of the sport and, more importantly, its accompanying lifestyle. The small label that released the single liked the idea so much that it even went as far as to rename the group the Beach Boys, much to its members’ surprise. Released that December, “Surfin’” cracked Billboard's Hot 100, eventually peaking at No. 75 while remaining on the chart for six weeks. They followed a few months later with “Surfin’ Safari,” which reached the Top 20 and earned the Beach Boys a contract with Capitol Records, who released their first full album, Surfin’ Safari , later that year. It reached No. 32 on the album charts, launching the group on its first wave of success.

With Wilson as the primary creative force, the Beach Boys released a slew of hit singles and top-charting albums during the early 1960s, featuring a bright and cheery music that would come to represent the California youth culture of the period. They released three albums in 1963 alone— Surfin' U.S.A. , Surfer Girl and Little Deuce Coupe —all of which cracked the Top 10. They followed that breakout year with hit releases like All Summer Long (1964) and Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) (1965). Among the band’s many iconic hit songs from this era are “Surfin’ U.S.A.” (No. 3), “Fun, Fun, Fun” (No. 5), “I Get Around” (No. 1), “Help Me Rhonda” (No. 1) and “California Girls” (No. 3), to name a mere few.

'Pet Sounds'

But by the mid-60s, Wilson had begun to experiment musically, conceptually and chemically, and he sought to push the group’s sound beyond the light and accessible sun-and-fun formula that characterized its early music. By late 1964, he had quit touring with the Beach Boys, due in part to a nervous breakdown he had suffered on the road, and he used his time at home to begin work on the band’s next album. Initially inspired by the Beatles’ Rubber Soul (1965), Wilson’s goal was to create an album where “every song mattered” and that would “make people feel loved.” After collaborating with his friend Tony Asher on the lyrics, and writing and arranging the music almost entirely on his own, Wilson then employed the famous session group known as the Wrecking Crew to commit his vision to tape.

Ironically, considering its later success, Capitol Records and the other members of the Beach Boys initially resisted the musical direction Wilson took on the album, preferring to stick with the safer, proven sound that had brought them so much success. The name Pet Sounds was born when band member Mike Love quipped, “Who’s gonna hear this sh**? The ears of a dog?” Arguably far ahead of its time, it received mixed reviews and did not sell as well as many of the band’s previous albums, further adding to the strain between Wilson and the other members, particularly Love.

Heroes and Villains

But Wilson was undeterred and immediately followed with what is considered to be one of the greatest rock songs of all time, the 1967 single “Good Vibrations,” which he had begun work on during the Pet Sounds sessions. The track hit No. 1 on the charts and encouraged Wilson to employ many of the same recording techniques he had used on a new project that he hoped would reach even greater musical heights. Collaborating with songwriter Van Dyke Parks on the lyrics and enlisting many of the musicians who had appeared on Pet Sounds , the album was initially titled Dumb Angel and later renamed SMiLE . Conceived by Wilson as a “teenage symphony to God,” it would not be released until more than 37 years later. One of the most famous unfinished albums of all time, SMiLE was shelved when Wilson’s personal life took a sharp turn for the worse—though reworked versions of a few of the songs would appear on 1967’s Smiley Smile and 1971’s Surf’s Up.

Plagued by his heavy abuse of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and LSD, Wilson suffered numerous nervous breakdowns and grew obese. He famously began wailing in the aisle of an airplane, played his grand piano in a sandbox he had built in his home and claimed to hear voices in his head. Attempting to deal with his addiction and mental illnesses, Wilson spent much of the next two decades in seclusion. While he struggled with his personal problems, the Beach Boys continued to tour without him (with only a few exceptions), relying more and more heavily on a nostalgia for their early work to carry their live shows. They continued to record as well, though with diminished involvement from Wilson, and with consequently underwhelming results.

By the mid-1970’s Wilson’s substance abuse and deteriorating mental state led his family to enlist the help of psychologist Eugene Landy, from whom he received treatment on and off for the next decade and a half. But while Landy would help Wilson reign in his drug addiction and take charge of his mental and physical health, he also exploited Wilson’s dependency on him, even going as far as to convince Wilson to list him as a collaborator on several songs on his 1988 debut, self-titled solo album, as well as a beneficiary in his will. In 1991, Wilson’s family sued Landy, resulting in a restraining order and the loss of Landy's license to practice psychology in California.

Later Career

Wilson has credited the mid-90s renaissance of his personal and professional life to one thing—his wife, Melinda Ledbetter, whom he married in 1995. (Wilson had previously married Marilyn Rovell in 1964, and the couple had two children before divorcing in 1979). Since that time, Wilson has released numerous solo albums, including Orange Art Crate (1995) and Imagination (1998). He was also the subject of the 1995 documentary I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times . In 2004, 37 years after its initial recording, Wilson finally released a complete version of SMiLE to wide acclaim, and since reviving his career has even overcome his legendary stage fright, performing on his own and occasionally with the Beach Boys in concerts throughout the United States and Europe.

For his immeasurable contributions to music, Wilson has won numerous honors and awards. In 1988 he and the Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2000 Wilson was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental for the song “Mrs. O'Leary's Cow,” and in 2007 he received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime contribution to the performing arts.

After decades of seclusion, a happy and productive Wilson received a warm welcome back into the music industry. His good friend Sir Elton John said of Wilson, “He’s got a great family life now, he goes to basketball games, he seems happy. He's leading as normal a life as Brian Wilson can.” In fact, Wilson might be happier now than he was even during the heyday of the Beach Boys. “I’m having much more fun than I did as a Beach Boy,” he said in The Guardian . “Because I’m no longer a Beach Boy. I’m Brian Wilson.”

Endless Summer

In 2014 the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before appearing on U.S. screens the following year. Paul Dano earned a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of a young Wilson (actor John Cusack was cast as the older Wilson, Paul Giamatti appearing as Eugene Landy), and the legendary musician also scored a nomination for contributing the song “One Kind of Love,” co-written with Scott Bennett. That same year, Wilson released a new solo album, No Pier Pressure , which reached No. 23 on the album charts.

In October 2016, the memoir I Am Brian Wilson was published. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine to promote the book, the 74-year-old legend announced that he would begin work on a new album, Sensitive Music for Sensitive People , later that year.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Brian Wilson
• Birth Year: 1942
• Birth date: June 20, 1942
• Birth State: California
• Birth City: Inglewood
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Brian Wilson is one of the most influential songwriters in rock 'n' roll history, best known as the frontman for the Beach Boys.
• Astrological Sign: Gemini
• Interesting Facts
• The Beach Boys released a song written by Charles Manson, "Cease To Exist" (renamed "Never Learn Not To Love"), as a single B-side on their 1969 album, 20/20 .

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Brian Wilson Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/brian-wilson
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: April 19, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• I had a good childhood—except for my dad beating me up all the time.
• 'Caroline, No' makes people cry. 'God Only Knows' makes people cry. A lot of love went into ['Pet Sounds'].
• At times I thought I'd never be happy ever again, and then at times I did.
• My father hit me, but he didn't hit my ear. I've never heard stereophonic sound ever in my life.
• I'm having much more fun than I did as a Beach Boy. Because I'm no longer a Beach Boy. I'm Brian Wilson."[From 'The Guardian' interview, published May 31, 2002.]

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New documentary tells Brian Wilson’s survival story

FILE - Musician Brian Wilson poses for a portrait in Los Angeles on June 2, 2015. Wilson’s story is at the heart of a new documentary, “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road,” that premieres at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival this week. (Photo by Casey Curry/Invision/AP, File)

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NEW YORK (AP) — The tragedies of Brian Wilson’s life is a rock ‘n’ roll story well told .

The postscript — that he’s a survivor nearing age 80 who appears to be supported personally and professionally in a way he never really had before — is less familiar.

Despite some uncomfortable moments in “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road,” that important update is the point of the documentary that premieres Tuesday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

The film’s heart is a series of drives around southern California, where Wilson and Rolling Stone magazine editor Jason Fine talk, listen to music and occasionally stop at restaurants. There’s a comfort level between the two; Fine is a journalist who has become a friend.

Wilson, the creative force behind the Beach Boys, has dealt with an abusive, hard-driving father, the mental illness Schizoaffective disorder where he’d hear voices berating and belittling him, and band members often resistant to where he was going musically. Add in years of drug abuse, a quack psychologist who effectively held him prisoner for a decade and the younger brothers who died early , and it’s a lot to endure.

“He doesn’t deserve the accolades about his music,” Elton John says in the film. “He deserves the accolades about his personal life.”

John, along with Bruce Springsteen, Don Was and Linda Perry, are eloquent in describing what made Wilson’s work unique and enduring, crucial to making the film appeal to more than just his fans.

Film director Brent Wilson (no relation) contacted Fine after his own attempts to interview Wilson bore little fruit. Fine said his own experiences with the musician have taught him that “being there when he’s ready to talk has always been a big thing with Brian.”

So they hit the road, eventually filming some 70 hours.

Wilson’s importance to southern California is evident at some of the stops along their drive. A sign now marks the spot where a Beach Boys album cover was shot. While the boyhood home of Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson in Hawthorne no longer stands, a plaque marks that location, too.

“I didn’t feel that Brian’s story, Brian’s third act now, had been done properly,” Fine said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think that Brian is often seen as a recluse, as a victim, as someone who burned out (and)... lost his way,” he said. “That’s not how I see Brian at all. Ever since I’ve known him I see him as a hero, a courageous person, who gives everybody who goes to his shows strength and inspiration.”

Fine said that “I wanted to show people Brian’s humanity, his decency, his kindness, his humor, his curiosity.”

In the film, Fine stops the car outside of the former home of Wilson’s brother Carl, who died of lung cancer at 51 in 1998. Fine gets out; Wilson wants to stay in the passenger seat. The camera catches Wilson wiping away a tear.

At another point, as they passed a spot where he once owned a health food store, Wilson says that “I haven’t had a friend to talk to in three years.”

They are moments that are deeply discomforting, bordering on exploitive. Wilson is clearly a damaged soul and, for his sake, you wonder at times in “Long Promised Road” if he would have been been better served by the dignity of privacy.

Fine doesn’t see it that way.

“All of it is done on Brian’s terms and on Brian’s comfort level, so I don’t see it as exploitive,” he said.

Wilson himself, in a Zoom call with reporters, said little. Asked why he agreed to participate in the film, he said, “I don’t know. I just made up my mind.”

Fine said it appears that the level of fandom that Wilson inspires is sometimes intimidating. He was struck once, following a show where Wilson and his band performed the “Pet Sounds” album, when Wilson told him that he’d always doubted it, but that now he thought that people loved his music and that he was doing what he was supposed to be doing.

“You’d think that was something he would felt over the last 60 years or so, being onstage with people singing and screaming for his music,” he said. “But what you feel inside is different than what comes from the external sources. I think that he feels the love and I think that’s huge.”

After all the years where his life was dominated by negativity, Wilson now has a positive, supportive personal life with wife Melinda and their family. He’s also surrounded by musicians who clearly revere him and are devoted to bringing what Elton John called the orchestra in Wilson’s head to life.

Nerves drove Wilson off the concert circuit at the height of the Beach Boys’ success. Now he loves performing, Fine said.

Perhaps, within himself, Wilson has accepted that he’s done things that mean so much to others, he said.

“That sort of simple message he really wanted to give people through his music going back to the ‘60s — a sense of warmth, a sense that it’s going be OK in the same way that music lifted him up from his darkness, he’d try to do for other people,” he said. “I think now, more than earlier in his career, he accepts that he does that and that’s a great comfort to him.”

The Untold Truth Of Love & Mercy

Bill Pohlad's 2014 feature "Love & Mercy," about singer-songwriter and co-founder of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, is far from a conventional biopic. Instead of following a traditional structure to showcase Wilson's most significant life and career moments, the director opted for a different approach. The film shows two brief but defining periods of Wilson's life in the 1960s and the 1980s — casting two actors for the leading role who look nothing alike:  Paul Dano  plays the musical legend in his younger days when he is filled with passion and inspiration, while  John Cusack  portrays the older version of the icon as he experiences mental unwellness and other personal issues.

The dynamic between past and future creates a beautiful and unique symphony here. Much like the often chaotic yet fascinating creative process Wilson is shown going through while composing music and recording songs, his genius just comes through perfectly in this feature. Although making this movie wasn't a straightforward process, the result speaks for itself. The dedication from the creators, cast, and crew is apparent throughout, which makes this biopic an absolute triumph.

Here, we gathered some trivia and lesser-known facts about "Love & Mercy" that fans of the Beach Boys will surely appreciate greatly.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website .

Brian Wilson wasn't involved but had high praise

Interestingly, Brian Wilson was never directly involved in the movie's development and production. According to an interview he gave to the Boston Herald in 2015, the musician claimed that while he was not involved in making the movie, the feature was factual, which couldn't have been an easy task to get right for the screenwriters. 

In another interview with the LA Times , he explained that it was challenging to watch some of the scenes in the movie, saying, "[It was] quite an emotional experience because of all I went through, all those different kinds of trips I took." Despite reliving some of the worst periods of his life, he acknowledged the biopic and its accuracy, praising the actors who played him — Paul Dano in particular.

Wilson wasn't the only one to like the end results, though. The film's unusual style, tone, and structure paid off, and critics loved it . It was also a commercial success , making over $28 million on a $10 million budget.

Screenwriter Oren Moverman consulted with Melinda Ledbetter

Although Brian Wilson himself wasn't involved, his second wife Melinda Ledbetter (portrayed by Elizabeth Banks) certainly was. As Wilson told Boston Herald , "I had no control or involvement in the film, but my wife did. She made sure they cast the characters right, you know, so they could capture my personality and the records and stuff like that." 

While screenwriter Oren Moverman was in the middle of penning the script, he reached out to Ledbetter. In an interview with Collider , Moverman explained how they approached the story of the film in order to have the right amount of accuracy they aimed for from the beginning. According to him, everything we see in the final cut is based on extensive research and facts, although specific periods were shown more briefly than how long they actually went on in real life.

Due to the consultation with Ledbetter, a crucial part of the plot (which tells how Wilson and his second wife met and what kind of relationship they had) is based on experiences that truly happened. As Moverman said, "I talked to Melinda, and she told me all these stories and I just transformed them into scenes — meeting at the Cadillac Theater, jumping off that boat and swimming — all those things really happened, at least in the way she told them."

The recording process is painstakingly accurate

One of the most fascinating aspects of "Love & Mercy" is when we see the young Brian Wilson construct music during studio sessions. The film does a meticulous job of portraying the process and how Wilson came up with some of the most iconic tunes ("Good Vibrations, "God Only Knows," etc.) — which later became essential parts of pop culture. His deep knowledge of instruments and sounds combined with great talent is undeniable. Paul Dano gives a spectacular performance to bring this whole experience as close to the viewer as possible. We witness how Wilson played around with several instruments to concoct just the right combination of sounds in the way he heard them in his own head.

In his 1971 profile written for Rolling Stone,  journalist Tom Nolan described Wilson's music-making process in great detail. He wrote about how ecstatic Wilson could be during a recording session, going around and showing each player what he'd like them to play. It might've seemed chaotic from an outside perspective, but he was in complete control. He often took over the board in the booth to mix the tracks even in the middle of a recording. He was the quintessential musician — a true genius. This definitely resembles what we see in the film and why Wilson complemented its accuracy (not only the sensitive and emotional parts but also the ones that show him playing music and singing).

Initially, the script was 170 pages long and had 100 songs in it

The theatrical version of "Love & Mercy" closes in on two hours, but the first draft of the screenplay was a lot longer than that. According to Collider, when Oren Moverman finished the first draft, it was 170 pages long and featured 100 songs. But even with such an extreme length, he felt that he didn't do justice to Brian Wilson. He said, "Actually, the first draft that I wrote was almost 170 pages, and I felt it was too short. I remember sending an email to Bill [Pohlad] saying, 'Here's the first draft attached, I feel it's too short.' It had 100 songs and 170 pages and I just felt like I didn't do enough to tell the story."

However, Pohlad told Moverman that he overperformed and did a 150% job. So, after a long conversation between the two, Moverman managed to cut down the script for the right length — which included the most significant points to tell an accurate yet condensed story of Wilson and his most influential and important relationships. 

Most of the deleted scenes portrayed Wilson in the 1970s

A shorter script also meant that Oren Moverman had to get rid of some great material. Most of these outtakes took place in the '70s when Brian Wilson was going through the toughest period of his life. He was physically, mentally, and emotionally down, awfully depressed for years, not doing much of anything that would've moved his music career (or life) forward. The myth was that he spent four years in bed in his bathrobe.

Moverman wanted to set the record straight that Wilson might've not done anything exciting or significant musically, but he still did things besides curling up in his room. He said, "He spent four years in bed, not a lot was going on, but it was also demystifying that because he wasn't really in bed all the time. He was eating, and he was doing drugs and drinking and staying in bed and being depressed all the time, but he would walk out of the house in his bathrobe. He would go to clubs, he would listen to music, he would interact with some people." 

We don't see much of that in detail in the movie; however, the way Wilson is portrayed in the '60s and '80s implies effectively what went wrong in the '70s — and why Dr. Eugene Landy came into the picture.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Paul Giamatti's portrayal of Dr. Landy frightened Brian Wilson

Paul Giamatti 's skill to scare us to our core maybe wasn't as well-known back in 2014 as it is today, but he did maximize that ability in "Love & Mercy." He played the infamous psychotherapist, Dr. Eugene Landy, who treated the Beach Boy for many years. It's really tough to watch some of his scenes as he controls and intimidates the singer with a very strict hand. 

In an interview with FOX 7 Austin , after seeing the film for the first time, Wilson explained that some of it was a little rougher to watch since certain characters were truly realistic to their real-life equivalents. He said, "The guy who played Dr. Landy was so right on ... so true to life, that he absolutely scared me. I was absolutely in fear for about 10 minutes." 

The real-life Dr. Landy was suspended from medical practice by court

Despite how abusive and domineering Dr. Landy seems toward Brian Wilson in the film, he'd been even worse in real life. In an interview  Melinda Ledbetter gave to the New York Post , she said, "After I first saw the film, I had to just drive around for a couple of hours to clear my head. Then I remembered that what Landy did to Brian was even worse. You don't get a sense of it in the movie, but it happened on a daily basis for years."

Landy had a doctorate in psychology and treated celebrities like singer Alice Cooper and actor Rod Steiger. In 1975, he was hired by Wilson's first wife to help him battle his drug addiction, physical unfitness, and abnormal behavior. He (mis)diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic and began to heavily medicate him. By 1989, he became the Beach Boy's legal guardian and manipulated Brian to an extreme level. According to the Boston Herald , in 1992, a court ruled that Dr. Landy could no longer practice in California, and he was also banned from contacting Wilson due to a lawsuit filed against him by Wilson's family .

Surprisingly, though, Wilson doesn't hold any bad feelings towards his ex-doctor, despite Landy's abuses. Wilson said, "He wouldn't let me do anything except exercise and eat healthy foods... He was a great doctor. He died about eight years ago, and that came as a shock to me. He meant well. He just yelled a lot, you know."

Paul Dano didn't know as much about Brian Wilson as he thought

In "Love & Mercy," we get to see insightful bits of Brian Wilson's dysfunctional relationship with his father, Murry Wilson (played by Bill Camp), and other personal differences that often led to conflicts between him and his cousin, Mike Love (Jake Abel). In an interview with Variety,  actor Paul Dano admitted that although he was a fan of the band, he didn't have as much knowledge of the singer-songwriter as he thought. 

Dano explained that it was a pleasant and wonderful surprise to read the script and get to know Wilson, "I felt like I knew the music, you would think you would know the story behind the man who made it. And I think that was the first truly exciting thing, not just even as an actor, but about the film. Like, wow, this guy has been through it and got a story. A story that would move and surprise people." He also said that when he read the script the second time, he did it with the band's famous album, "Pet Sounds," playing in the background, which was the moment he really started to prepare for the role. 

The film doesn't always specify what Wilson used over the years

We don't see much of the other Wilsons — Carl and Dennis, who were also part of the band — in the film, however, Brian Wilson's relationship with his cousin Mike Love is an essential element of the script. As the plot moves forward, Love becomes more and more frustrated with Wilson's strange behavior and obsession with perfectionism. He just simply can't deal with his cousin's issues and the excessive drug use.

According to Slate , although "Love & Mercy" doesn't always detail the kind of drugs Brian had taken over the years, it includes various substances in addition to LSD. In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone , Wilson opened up and talked candidly about his drug use and what it did to his mind. "I want people to realize that drugs can be very detrimental and dangerous. I've told a lot of people don't take psychedelic drugs. It's mentally dangerous to take. I regret having taken LSD. It's a bad drug." He also added that he believes that his "struggle for mental health is the result of bad drugs."

Dr. Landy was a cartoon and fraud in real life

There's a lot to the abusive and exploitative relationship that went on for years between Dr. Landy and Wilson. According to Far Out Magazine , by 1983, Landy wasn't simply Wilson's therapist but also became the Beach Boys' business manager, co-songwriter, and executive producer, too. He had total control over Brian Wilson's mind and body, keeping him in constant fear. Landy was also a master manipulator who once dreamed of his own musical stardom but had neither the talent nor the work ethic to follow through. He was greedy and compulsive, hungry for fame and success that he didn't deserve.

Screenwriter Oren Moverman told Collider why Landy's part was the hardest to write and capture in "Love & Mercy": "Even though many things that he says in the movie I actually have a recording of, in real life, he was a cartoon, and he was so over the top," he said. "You kind of wonder, "Did everybody miss it?" I think it's so clear the guy is a fraud, a manipulator, out of his mind, probably drugged even more than Brian, and where is everyone? Where is everyone to kind of call him out and say, "Wait a minute, he's ruining Brian's life, and he's cutting him away from his family?" Indeed, the result was a character that affected even the real-life subject of the story, so he must've gotten it just right.