Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn to play The Beatles in Sony four-parter

Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Barry Keoghan will play Ringo Starr, and Joseph Quinn will play George Harrison in Sam Mendes’s upcoming The Beatles four-part biopic scheduled to open in April 2028.

Mendes welcomed the four stars on to the stage at the culmination of Sony Pictures’ CinemaCon presentation on Monday evening in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. The actors recited lyrics from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and executed a theatrical bow.

“We need big cinematic events to get people out of the house,” the director told attendees at The Colosseum. Mendes, whose credits include 1917, Skyfall, and American Beauty, said principal photography will take a little over one year.

Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group and an ardent advocate of the studio’s theatrical-first distribution strategy, said the 2028 release would become “the first bingeable theatrical experience”.

All four actors have previously been named Screen UK-Ireland Stars of Tomorrow - Keoghan in 2015, Dickinson in 2017, Quinn in 2018 and Mescal in 2020.

Each of the films will be told from the point of view of each of the Fab Four, whom Mendes described as the greatest band in history. The ambitious project marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.

The Liverpool quartet coalesced in the early 1960s when Starr joined McCartney, Lennon and Harrison. Originating as a pop and rock and roll band who ventured into psychedelia, they defied categorisation, earned a fanatical following, conquered the United States, recorded numerous number one hits, and sold hundreds of millions of units.

After the band’s final recording session in 1970 they went their separate ways. Lennon was assassinated in 1980 and Harrison died in 2001.

Mendes, Pippa Harris, Julie Pastor, and Alexandra Derbyshire will produce the Neal Street production in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures.

The Sony presentation also treated the audience to appearances by Danny Boyle, Darren Aronofsky, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Ralph Macchio as they talked up their upcoming releases 28 Years Later, Caught Stealing, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Karate Kid: Legends.

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