The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, directed by Sam Mendes.

Harris Dickinson (John Lennon)
Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney)
Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr)
Joseph Quinn (George Harrison)

In theatres April 2028. #TheBeatlesFourFilmCinematicEvent pic.twitter.com/mREL0nPcfC

— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) April 1, 2025

The ensemble cast was presented on stage by Mendes, with a projection of who would be playing who on a screen behind them. Paul Mescal, who recently starred in Gladiator II, will play Paul McCartney, and Joseph Quinn will play George Harrison, as previously reported earlier this year. Barry Keoghan, who shot to fame in 2023’s Saltburn, and later as the partner of Sabrina Carpenter, will play Ringo Starr, and Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon in what is likely to be his biggest role to date.   

These castings won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has taken an interest in the rumours and clues that have come out since the four films were announced in February 2024. DEADLINE reported the lineup back in December, drawing from details and gossip around the four actors. Ridley Scott, Mescal’s director on Gladiator II, accidentally revealed the 29-year old’s involvement in a Q&A, Ringo Starr shared that Keoghan had taken drumming lessons, Dickinson refused to rule out playing Lennon, and Quinn dropped out of Bret Easton Ellis’ Relapse citing scheduling conflicts.

As part of the 2024 announcement, Mendes said he was “excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” and his exciting approach to the challenge has received the blessing of McCartney and Starr, as well as the families of Lennon and Harrison.  

The announcement was made at 8pm Las Vegas time, or 4am in the UK, leading some to question whether it was an April Fool’s Day joke. The disbelief surrounds the appearance of the four actors, with critics questioning if they look enough like their real-life counterparts to be convincing. Others noticed the resemblance between the promotional shot of the newly-announced cast, and an image of The Beatles taken at one of their final photoshoots.

First look at ‘THE BEATLES’ cast together.

Liam Gallagher as John Lennon
Paul McCartney (Old) as Paul McCartney
Squeaky as Ringo Starr
Yellow Yoshi as George Harrison pic.twitter.com/7fUA4LIgDR

— marybeth (@60minonacid) April 1, 2025

Discussing the ambitious nature of the project, Mendes said: “Frankly, we need big cinematic events to get people out of the house. There had to be a way to tell the epic story for a new generation, and I can assure you there is still plenty left to explore and I think we found a way to do that.” Mendes also used his CinemaCon appearance to elaborate on the release schedule, saying that all four films would be released “in proximity” of each other. 

Often cited as the most influential band of all time, any previous biopics on the group have felt half baked. Mendes’ approach will allow room for each Beatle to be explored, both as musicians and people, and the resulting films will be a treat for audiophiles and cinephiles alike.

Talking about the video, an inside source told the Sun; “It’s a massive collaboration and a great coup to get Paul on board. He’s one of the biggest stars in the world right now, but obviously he was keen to work with some music legends too. Universal man­ag­ed to pull off the partnership at just the right time, and everyone involved is seriously excited. Paul plays a hunky party boy in the film, and no doubt there will be a whole new set of fans of his who will want to check it out too, as well as the band’s fanbase.”

Scarlet is one of three previously unreleased songs that will appear on the upcoming deluxe edition of Goats Head Soup, set to come out September 4th. The song was recorded in 1974 with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page playing guitar.

Remembering the day, Keith Richards said in a statement; “My recollection is we walked in at the end of a Zeppelin session, they were just leaving, and we were booked in next and I believe that Jimmy decided to stay. We weren’t actually cutting it as a track; it was basically for a demo, a demonstration, you know, just to get the feel of it, but it came out well, with a line-up like that, you know, we better use it.”

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Listen to Scarlet featuring @jimmypage on @applemusic now! You can also pre-add Goats Head Soup Deluxe to your library today #therollingstones #scarlet #jimmypage #newmusic #listennow #applemusic #experiencegoatsheadsoup #goatsheadsoup2020

A post shared by The Rolling Stones (@therollingstones) on Jul 29, 2020 at 10:06am PDT

Paul Mescal has really shot to fame this year after he starred in the hit BBC show Normal People with Daisy Edgar-Jones. He also recently performed with Dermot Kennedy in the Natural History Museum.

Scarlet is out now on all platforms. The deluxe album Goats Head Soup will be available everywhere on the 4th September.

The ‘Some Summer Nights at the Natural History Museum’ will be a pay-per-view event. Speaking about the event, Dermot said; “I’m incredibly excited to be playing a show at the Natural History Museum in London. To have the opportunity to bring my music into a place filled with so much history and wonderment means so much to me. We’re going to do something truly unique and I can’t wait for you to see it.

“This is easily one of the most exciting things I’ve ever been involved in and it feels like a privilege to get to put this show on and in this time when I can’t play shows as I normally would, it gives me so much joy to be able to share this event with you. Poetry, music and history will all come together for this event and it’s going to be so special.”

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Presale is now open for our live-streamed show at London’s Natural History Museum! Thank you to everybody who’s signed up for it – I can promise you this is going to be incredibly special. Tickets go on sale this Friday 10 July at 9AM local time. Link to join mailing list in stories. X

A post shared by Dermot Kennedy (@dermotkennedy) on Jul 8, 2020 at 1:13am PDT

Dermot will be joined by his full band but also a very special guest star, Paul Mescal. The Irish actor has recently shot to fame following his performance as Connell in the hit series Normal People. Dermot said in an announcement video. “We’re going to be joined by Paul Mescal from Normal People, which is incredible. I’m so grateful to him for getting involved and being up for it. This is going to be so special.”

While it isn’t confirmed that Paul will be singing at the event, after seeing the videos Paul uploads of himself singing on Instagram, it would seem like we are in for a remarkable show. 

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A post shared by Paul Mescal (@paul.mescal) on May 8, 2020 at 2:41pm PDT

This announcement follows a very busy week for Dermot as his album Without Fear broke the record for the most time an Irish debut album has spent at No.1 so far this century. He also recently released his new single Giants. Tickets are going on sale Friday 10th of July and there will be an option to donate funds to the BLM Global Network.