Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan are leading the cast now confirmed for James Bond director Sam Mendes’ upcoming quartet of Beatles biopics.
Normal People and Gladiator II actor Mescal will portray Sir Paul McCartney, while Saltburn, Banshees of Inisherin and (the vastly underrated) The Killing of a Sacred Deer star Keoghan will step into Ringo Starr’s shoes.
The acting supergroup will also feature Harris Dickinson, who was most recently seen opposite Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, as John Lennon and Joseph Quinn, who (bad pun alert) will go from playing the Human Torch in Marvel’s Fantastic Four to playing George Harrison in Liverpool’s Fab Four.
The four films will consist of one apiece dedicated to each member of the scouse legends, with all four to be released in April 2028 in what Mendes has called “the first bingeable theatrical experience.”
Although the Merseyside minstrels have featured in plenty of films before, including the likes of Backbeat, Nowhere Boy and I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Mendes’ take on the story will be the first time that all four band members and their estates have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Appearing on stage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas last night, Oscar-winning director Mendes said: “Frankly, we need big cinematic events to get people out of the house.”
He was joined on the stage by the four leads, who quoted from 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” before giving a Beatles-style synchronised bow.
Formed in 1960, The Beatles transformed youth culture and changed the course of musical history, with some crediting them as “inventing” what we now know as pop music. Although the band broke up in 1970, they remain the biggest-selling band of all time having sold over 600m records worldwide.
Only two members survive. John Lennon was murdered in 1980, while Harrison died of cancer in 2001. In 2023, the surviving members released what was described as the Beatles’ “final” song, Now And Then. Based on one of Lennon’s old demo tapes, and featuring an archive recording of Harrison’s guitar work as well as some AI trickery, it went to number one and was nominated for awards at the Brits and the Grammys.
