The Beatles biopics have officially found their Fab Four.
In director Sam Mendes’ upcoming four intersecting feature films about the young British rock band, Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Barry Keoghan will play Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn will play George Harrison.
Sony, which is producing the four projects planned for April 2028, confirmed the long-rumored Beatles cast at CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas on Monday. Mendes, 59, appeared at the Caesar’s Palace event to introduce heartfelt video messages from Mescal, Dickinson, Keoghan and Quinn.
“The Beatles changed my understanding of music,” Mendes said at the annual gathering of theater exhibitors.
Mendes described the films, collectively called The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, the “first bingable theatrical experience.” He added that filming will last a year.
Mendes’ four Beatles biopics, each told from one of each band member’s perspective, mark the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and the group have granted the rights to their life stories and music for the big screen. “I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” the British filmmaker said in a February 2024 statement announcing the project.
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Starr, 84, recently told PEOPLE he was “excited to see what [Mendes] does with” the “madness of making four movies at the same time… There’ll be Beatles in mine around when I joined, and there’ll be Beatles in Paul’s. We’ll all be there.”
As rumors swirled around the four actors’ casting last year, director Ridley Scott — who directed both Mescal and Quinn in Gladiator II — seemingly spilled the beans on Mescal playing McCartney, 82. Dickinson dodged interview questions about playing Lennon, telling The Hollywood Reporter in January that the casting “would be splendid” and “a brilliant opportunity.”
At their presentation, Sony also unveiled details about the upcoming releases of the next Tom Holland Spider-Man installment, titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Karate Kid: Legends and more. CinemaCon 2025 runs March 31 to April 3.
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