UK — Sam Mendes is directing four biopics about The Beatles, each focused on a different band member, scheduled for release in 2028. Paul Mescal has been cast as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.
The project follows renewed global interest in the band, spurred in part by Peter Jackson’s eight-hour documentary 'Get Back,' which offered an intimate look at The Beatles during their final recording sessions. Ian Leslie, author of 'John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs,' said the UK is experiencing a new wave of Beatlemania reminiscent of the 1990s revival. “It’ll be like a second wave of Beatlemania. It’s absolutely crazy. They’re a pop band that people were saying, in 1963, would be lucky to last a year. Now 60 years on they’ll be the biggest cultural moment of the year. It’ll be like Barbenheimer all over again,” Leslie said.
Leslie added, “We’re only just starting to come to terms with how big a cultural phenomenon they were.” He dismissed comparisons between The Beatles and their contemporaries, saying, “That rivalry is irrelevant; they moved on to a plane of their own. You think about Shakespeare: we’re still reading Marlowe and the other Elizabethan playwrights, but the bard is – like the Beatles – in a whole separate category.” Simon Reynolds, author of 'Still In A Dream,' echoed the sentiment, describing The Beatles’ evolution from pop stars to psychedelic innovators as “the greatest adventure that ever happened in pop music.” Reynolds also noted the band’s global cultural impact, saying, “Here’s this shabby, worn-out, repressed little culture thousands of miles away that is unexpectedly sparring with and even – I would say, with Stones and Beatles – eclipsing the source nation.”
Not all reactions have been positive. Pattie Boyd, ex-wife of George Harrison, expressed anger at not being contacted by Mendes or his team regarding her portrayal in the films. Aimee Lou Wood has been cast to play Boyd in the biopics.