Chapter 27 is an independent film depicting the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman. J. P. Schaefer, making his directorial debut, also wrote the script. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007 and the Berlin Film Festival in February. Though savaged by most critics, who described the movie as a vanity project lacking in insight, it did receive positive reviews in Salon, The Hollywood Reporter, and Entertainment Weekly. The film initially failed to land a U.S. distributor, but was picked up for theatrical distribution in Europe, Asia, and South America. The film was leaked onto the internet on March 23, 2007. The film will see US theatrical release in March of 2008 and won the Debut Feature Prize award for J.P. Schaefer at the Zurich Film Festivalhttp://biz.yahoo.com/iw/071012/0314623.html. In Entertainment Weekly's 2008 Spring movie preview the release date for Chapter 27 was listed as March 28, 2008 http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20179679,00.html Recently, rumors have surfaced that the film's challenges in obtaining a U.S. distributor are linked to a wide base of Lennon's fans who discouraged and protested the film's release because of fear that it would glamorize the life of Lennon's murderer.
Jared Leto gained 67 pounds for the role.
There are 26 chapters in "The Catcher in the Rye", the book Mark David Chapman was carrying when he was arrested immediately after the murder.
To add the weight needed to play Chapman, Jared Leto told Jimmy Kimmel he put pints of chocolate Haagen Dazs ice cream in the microwave so he could drink them - with olive oil and soy sauce added "to get me bloated even more".
We are told that John Lennon (I) was living in the Manhattan building called The Dakota, where Rosemary's Baby (1968) was filmed in 1968 - directed by Roman Polanski, whose pregnant wife, the actress Sharon Tate, was murdered in 1969. The murderers were Charles Manson and his followers, who titled their death spree "Helter Skelter" after the 1968 song by The Beatles.
