Ringo Starr knows who is going to play him in Sam Mendes’ upcoming series of Beatles biopics. Apparently, it’s Barry Keoghan, who is best known for his roles in The Banshees Of Inisherin and Saltburn.
The information was blurted out in an interview the 84-year-old drummer gave to Entertainment Tonight. When Keoghan’s name was mentioned (the actor has previously been rumoured to be playing John Lennon in Mendes’ project), Ringo said “I think it’s great. I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many.”
The film won’t be released until 2027. As confirmed earlier this year, Mendes has taken on the immense task of telling a story everybody (at least in the UK) thinks they know backwards, but is approaching it from four different angles. So each Beatle will get his own biopic and all will be out in three years’ time, which will mark the 70th anniversary of Lennon and McCartney’s first meeting.
None of the other main roles have so far been cast. There are rumours that Paul Mescal, currently to be seen in Gladiator II, will play Paul McCartney. The actor recently told GQ magazine: “I would love to be involved, but there’s nothing set in stone.”
There’s speculation, too, that Harris Dickinson may get the Lennon role. “There’s nothing I can say about that,” the Triangle of Sadness actor stonewalled when recently interviewed by Dazed And Confused. “It might not be true, it might be, I don’t know... there’s a speculation culture.”
The films have got the official thumbs-up from McCartney and Starr as well as the estates of their fallen bandmates. So the music rights are all sorted. You’re still left to wonder: what could there possibly be left to tell, what fresh angle to pursue about four men whose music and lives have been pored over endlessly for over sixty years now?
During their years as an active band, the Beatles made five feature films. Since their dissolution in 1970 there have no fewer than 18 biopics made about individual band members, and dozens and dozens of documentaries, the most recent of which - the Martin Scorsese/ David Tedeschi project Beatles ‘64, which focuses on their breakthrough year in the US - starts airing tomorrow on Disney+. So there’s a lot for Mendes to compete against, and that’s without taking into consideration what many (including at least two of the actual group) consider to be the greatest Beatles biopic that never was: Eric Idle’s retelling of the story as The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash.
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