The cast of Sam Mendes’s four upcoming Beatles biopics has been officially announced with Irish actors Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan confirmed to play Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr respectively. Harris Dickinson will take on the role of John Lennon, with Joseph Quinn playing George Harrison.
Mendes, the Oscar-winning director of films including American Beauty, 1917 and Skyfall, made a surprise appearance on stage with his Fab Four at CinemaCon, an annual industry event for Hollywood, in Las Vegas on Monday night.
Mendes confirmed that his four biopics, each film focusing on one member of the band, will all come out in the same month in April 2028.
“We’re not just making one film about the Beatles – we’re making four,” Mendes said. “Perhaps this is a chance to understand them a little more deeply.” The Beatles “redefined the culture and stayed with you for a lifetime”, Mendes said, calling them “the most significant band of all time”.
The Beatles: It’s great Mescal and Keoghan landed roles in biopics, but are we entering Fab Four overload?
Val Kilmer: Avatar of American swagger who only occasionally got the roles he deserved
Val Kilmer, Top Gun and Batman star, dies aged 65
Four Mothers review: Fionnula Flanagan excels as one of four Dublin partying matriarchs on a road trip
He had been trying to make a film about the Beatles “for years, but I finally gave up”, the “story was too big for one film” and he didn’t want to make a television series.
“There had to be a way to tell the epic story for a new generation,” he told the audience, adding: “I can assure you there is still plenty left to explore and I think we found a way to do that.”
On stage, Dickinson, Mescal, Keoghan and Quinn recited from the band’s song Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: “It’s wonderful to be here, it’s certainly a thrill, you’re such a lovely audience, we’d like to take you home with us.”
Mendes’s project has the blessing of McCartney and Starr, and of the families of John Lennon and George Harrison. It marks the first time they, and rights holders Apple, have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Not all of the casting was a surprise: last year, director Ridley Scott accidentally confirmed the rumour that Mescal, his star in Gladiator II, would play McCartney. Later, Mescal diplomatically said that “it would be a dream come true.”
And Starr had previously suggested that Keoghan had been cast to play him, saying: “I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many.”
The Beatles formed in 1960 and changed the course of musical history before breaking up in 1970. As well as their numerous albums and hit singles, they made five features to tie in with seismic albums, beginning with A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 and ending with Let It Be (1970), all of which were well received, aside from 1967’s Magical Mystery Tour.
Dozens of documentaries have been made about the band, as well as about 18 biopics on the big and small screen, of which the most acclaimed are 1994’s Backbeat – which focuses on sometime guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe – and 2009’s Nowhere Boy, about Lennon’s childhood. – Guardian
