Saoirse Ronan and Aimee Lou Wood are among the latest additions to the casts of the forthcoming Beatles biopics.
Sam Mendes (1917, Skyfall, American Beauty) is making four separate films, with each one set to focus on one member of the Fab Four. The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event is currently slated for an April 2028 release.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed that Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon and Paul Mescal will portray Paul McCartney, while Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan will play George Harrison and Ringo Starr respectively.
Now, Sony Pictures have confirmed that four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird, Brooklyn) will play Linda McCartney in the films, a casting decision that had been widely rumoured in recent weeks.
Aimee Lou Wood (The White Lotus, Film Club) will play George Harrison’s partner Pattie Boyd, Anna Sawai (Shogun) will portray Yoko Ono and Mia McKenna-Bruce (How To Have Sex) will take on the role of Maureen Starkey, the wife of Starr.
Mendes has said: “Maureen, Linda, Yoko and Pattie are four fascinating and unique figures in their own right – and I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to persuade four of the most talented women working in film today to join this amazing adventure”.
It has been speculated that James Norton (Happy Valley, House Of Guinness) is in line to play The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, although that remains unconfirmed.
The movies will mark the first time that the band and their descendants have granted The Beatles’ music and life rights to a theatrical feature film, and the four releases will be released over a series of weeks and will intersect to tell the story of the iconic band.
Paul and Linda McCartney met in 1967 when Linda was working as a photographer, and they were married from 1969 until her death in 1998. They also wrote and played together in Wings after The Beatles’ split.
Ono met Lennon in 1966 after he attended one of her art exhibitions in London, and they married in 1969, a year after Lennon divorced Cynthia Powell. Boyd met Harrison on the set of 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night and they were married from 1966 to 1977, while Boyd later married Eric Clapton. Ringo met Maureen Starkey (née Cox) in 1962 when she was 16 and working as a hairdresser. They were married from 1965 to 1975 and she passed away in 1994.
In September, Paul Mescal revealed he would be doing his own singing in Beatles biopics and has spent time with Paul McCartney. “He’s an extraordinary man,” the actor enthused. “Like to spend any time – it’s a crazy sentence to say that I’ve spent time with that man, let alone play him.”
In May, Mescal’s cast mate, Barry Keoghan, discussed meeting Ringo Starr prior to playing the drummer in the films. Describing his nerves at meeting the legend, the Irishman said: “When I was talking to him, I couldn’t look at him. I was nervous, like right now. But he’s like, ‘You can look at me,’” he recalled. “My job is to observe and kinda take in mannerisms and study him. I want to humanise him and bring feelings to it and not just sort of imitate.”
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