On the morning of December 8, 1980, music legend John Lennon sat down for what would be his last interview. By that evening, he was gone. A new documentary is now offering an intimate look at the last interview the Beatles frontman ever gave — recorded just hours before he was fatally shot outside his Manhattan home.
Getty“John Lennon: The Last Interview,” directed by Steven Soderbergh, centers on a radio interview Lennon gave to San Francisco station KFRC from his and wife Yoko Ono’s apartment at the Dakota, their iconic Manhattan residence.
The film made its world debut at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 16.
John Lennon’s Final Hours: What the Documentary Reveals
GettyThe interview itself was meant to be a celebration. Lennon and Ono had just released “Double Fantasy,” their long-awaited comeback record, three weeks earlier.
As per UNCUT, KFRC journalists Dave Sholin, Laurie Kaye, and Ron Hummel had come to the Dakota to talk about the music and what felt like a fresh chapter in the career of one of the most iconic figures in rock history.
What none of them could have known was how little time was left.
Earlier that same day, Lennon and Ono had posed for a series of photographs with renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz inside their apartment.
Those images would go on to become some of the most recognized portraits in music history.
The interview wrapped. The journalists packed up and headed out. What happened next has been etched into history.
The Chilling Encounter Outside the Dakota
GettyAs Sholin, Kaye, and Hummel made their way out of the building, they came face to face with a man who had been waiting outside.
According to The Guardian, the journalists described the individual as a deeply unsettling presence. In an attempt to calm the situation, Kaye handed the man a brand-new copy of “Double Fantasy.” He then approached Lennon directly and asked him to sign it.
Lennon signed the album. That man was Mark David Chapman. Hours later, he shot Lennon four times outside the very same building, killing him. It is a detail that stops you cold.
How John Lennon Died: The Night of Dec. 8, 1980
GettyLennon, 40, was shot twice in the back and twice in the shoulder with a .38-caliber pistol as he returned to the Dakota that evening.
According to the autopsy, two bullets struck his left lung before exiting through his chest, per Mirror US. A third bullet hit his left arm bone after entering through the shoulder. The fourth punctured his left lung before lodging in his neck.
GettyNew York City medical examiner Dr. Elliot Gross determined that Lennon died from massive hemorrhaging and shock caused by the gunshot wounds, as per a report in The Washington Post.
Chapman confessed at the scene immediately after the shooting. Years later, in September 2022, speaking to a parole board, he offered his own chilling explanation for what he had done.
“I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil,” he said. “I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life.”
Soderbergh’s film does more than simply revisit a tragedy.
According to Variety, the documentary draws on a collection of never-before-seen photographs of both Lennon and Ono, alongside a selection of AI-generated fantasy images woven throughout the film.
Together, they create something that feels both intimate and deeply respectful of a life cut far too short.
Lennon left behind his wife, Yoko, and two sons, Julian and Sean Lennon. He was a husband, a father, and one of the most influential musicians the world has ever known.
