Paul Mescal has revealed he’s met Paul McCartney ahead of him playing him in Sam Mendes’ upcoming biopics on The Beatles.
Mendes is directing a set of four biopics on the Fab Four, which will all be released in April 2028. Each film will focus on a different member of the group, and has been described by Sony as “the first binge-able theatrical experience”.
At Las Vegas’ CinemaCon in March, it was confirmed, after intense speculation, that Mescal would portray McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.
Now, during a new interview with IndieWire, Mescal has revealed that he’s had the opportunity to meet with McCartney ahead of bringing his story to the screen.
The Irish actor explained: “I have, yeah. He’s an extraordinary man, like to spend any time— it’s a crazy sentence to say that I’ve spent time with that man, let alone play him.”
Additionally, when probed about whether he’d be singing in the forthcoming films, Mescal confirmed he would be, stating, “Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah.”
Similarly, Keoghan has also met with Starr, which was a nerve-inducing encounter. “He played the drums for me,” the Irish actor recalled of his first meeting with The Beatles legend during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “He asked me to play, but I wasn’t playing the drums for Ringo.”
He continued, “When I was talking to him, I couldn’t look at him. I was nervous, like right now. But he’s like, ‘You can look at me’. My job is to observe and kinda take in mannerisms and study him. I want to humanise him and bring feelings to it and not just sort of imitate.”
Despite anticipation already reaching a fever pitch for the upcoming movies on the Fab Four, the casting has been criticised by family members of the band. Ringo’s son, Zak, said of Keoghan: “He doesn’t look anything like my dad does he? You can fix anything, can’t you? You can certainly give someone a big rubber nose.”
Meanwhile, Julia Baird, Lennon’s sister, criticised Mendes for not selecting Liverpudlian actors for the films. She shared: “There are more actors out there waiting for a go, and for a chance. It will be interesting to see what kind of accent he comes up with, because nobody can do a Liverpool accent. They all get it wrong.”
