The Beatles in film directed by Lester. It was a satire of World War II films, and its dry, ironic British humour was not well received by American audiences. He would later produce avant-garde films with his second wife Yoko Ono, such as "Rape" which was produced for the Austrian television network ORF. In 1969, Ringo Starr took second billing to Peter Sellers in the satirical comedy "The Magic Christian", in a part which had been written especially for him. In 1971, Starr played the part of Frank Zappa in Zappa's epic cult film about a rock and roll band touring, entitled "200 Motels".
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers his film career. Director Blake Edwards is played by John Lithgow, and the film exposes some of the behind-the-scenes personality conflicts between Sellers and Edwards, which contributed to their unhappy and tumultuous working relationship, despite the success of their films. In the interview for the film, included on the DVD, Edwards credited Rush with portraying Sellers' characters with uncanny similarity to the real Peter Sellers, and in 2004 claimed that it was the best acting he had ever seen Rush perform. Actor Geoffrey Rush stated in interviews that the film was itself structured to be reminiscent of a Peter Sellers