Posted by 
Earlier this year, the world learned of Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes’ plans for a full-on Beatles cinematic universe. Mendes — whose past credits include American Beauty, 1917, and two of the Daniel Craig James Bond movies — is working with Sony and the Beatles’ Apple Corps movie to make four different biopics, one about each Beatle, and they’ll all supposedly open theatrically in 2027. Now, we’re getting unconfirmed reports that Mendes has cast all four Beatles.
According to ScreenRant, Harris Dickinson, the young British actor who recently appeared in Triangle Of Sadness and The Iron Claw, will play John Lennon. He’ll also appear in Steve McQueen’s forthcoming World War II film Blitz. In his young career, Dickinson has shown a real gift for playing doomed, sensitive dirtbags. John Lennon could credibly be described as both doomed and sensitive; the “dirtbag” part is more up in the air.
Paul Mescal will reportedly take the role of Paul McCartney, which is a nice little first-name match-up. Mescal already has an Oscar nomination for Aftersun, and he’s known for being extremely hot and for playing intricate, internal roles in things like All Of Us Strangers and the Normal People miniseries. Later this year, he’ll star in Gladiator II, and he’s also taking part in Richard Linklater’s production of Merrily We Roll Along, a musical that’s filming intermittently over years. His profile is extremely high.
I’m less familiar with Charlie Rowe, the former child actor who’s supposedly been tapped to play George Harrison. Rowe’s most prominent role to date has been as music publisher Ray Williams in the Elton John biopic Rocketman, and he’s also been on the TV shows Red Band Society, Salvation, and Slow Horses. (His Slow Horses character was the absolute worst, but he played “being the worst” quite well.)
Finally, Barry Keoghan, hot off of Saltburn, will apparently play Ringo Starr, which is honestly just weird. Like Paul Mescal, Keoghan is an Irish-born Oscar nominee who has dated a pop star. His specialty, at least at this point in his career, is playing freaky little freaks. His next film is Andrea Arnold’s Bird, which recently premiered at Cannes. He’s the oldest of the four leads, and I am very curious whether he’s capable of being outright funny. You’d think that they would cast someone funny as Ringo Starr, right?
All four of the stars are between 27 and 31 — about the same age that the Beatles were when their band broke up. It remains to be seen how this will work, but at least they got some big names involved.