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BBC News
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sam Mendes' Beatles films: How hard is it to play one of Fab Four?
Playing any well-known figure from recent history is a challenge, but the challenge of finding four actors to put in convincing portrayals of four of the most famous people in popular culture is one not many directors have attempted. Earlier this month, director Sam Mendes announced the cast for his four-part Beatles biopic, with each member of the band set to be the subject of their own feature-length films set for release in Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan will play John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr performances – and particularly their efforts at the Beatles' distinctive accents – will be closely watched by fans the world over. And if previous actors' attempts are anything to go by, they should brace themselves for some serious scrutiny. 'Suspend disbelief' Perhaps one of the most famous and successful Beatles biopics is 1994's Backbeat, set in the band's 1960-1962 Hamburg era. On the one hand, it had Liverpool actor Ian Hart turning in a convincing Lennon (even if he was not exactly Lennon's double). But on the other, Hollywood actor Stephen Dorff, playing the film's lead character of original Beatles bass player and artist Stuart Sutcliffe, who died of a brain haemorrhage aged just 21, provided an uncanny likeness. But his attempt at the Liverpool accent has received, over the years since, reviews from "decent" to "variable" to "awful".So should any actor taking on a Beatle role be wary?Beatles historian Paul Du Noyer, who wrote The Beatles: The Complete Illustrated Story and Conversations With Paul McCartney, said: "The Beatles are so well known to us all, not just their faces but every nuance of the way they talk, every mannerism. "Many of us know the Beatles as well as we know our own families. It can be difficult for us to suspend the disbelief. "Even when I've seen performances that were very good, for example Ian Hart in Backbeat, that got around the problem of the familiarity by dwelling on a lesser-known period of their story." Du Noyer added that some Beatles might seem easier to take off than others."In some ways, you stick a wig and a beard on someone, little round granny glasses and a white suit and everyone goes, 'It's John Lennon'"But he said McCartney was a tougher portrayal to nail – especially when the man himself is a tough critic."Paul has been very critical of films like [Sam Taylor-Wood's early years biopic of John Lennon] Nowhere Boy, and Backbeat, because they tend to fall into a pastiche of McCartney that he doesn't recognise – he doesn't like the stereotype of him being the cute one, the manipulative one." So does Sam Mendes have a job on his hands?Du Noyer added: "He's got bankable stars, who won't let themselves down. I know there's been some disappointment among Liverpudlians because non-Liverpudlians have been cast in the roles, but even as a loyal Liverpudlian I can't condemn Sam Mendes on the casting, because he is making films for the whole world to watch. "I think the accuracy of the Liverpool accent will be pretty low down the list of things he needs to cover." 'Don't hear it any more' Edda Sharpe, a Merseyside-based voice and dialect coach who has worked with actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, said there were some specific challenges to taking on the voice of a them is the fact that the accent with which John, Paul, George and Ringo spoke is much less pronounced than the one many might associate with Liverpool aficionados will know that on the Let It Be album version of the old Liverpool folk tune Maggie May, Lennon deliberately exaggerated the Liverpool accent, elongating his vowels and adding a much more nasal quality to it. The performance has more in common with today's Scouse accent than it did with the one the Beatles spoke with."And the challenge is, the way the Beatles spoke, you just don't hear that any more. It's a completely different tone to the Liverpool accent we are currently exposed to," Sharpe said."And you are not just trying to create the sound of someone from Liverpool in the 1960s, you are trying to create the sound of people that everyone is familiar with." She said there might be advantages for Irish actors Mescal and Keoghan, as there are certain common traits to both Liverpool and Irish she said similarities in accent could also prove problematic for actors."The northern Irish accent, particularly, has this sort of down-and-then-up quality, and when you listen to early recordings of the Beatles you hear what sounds like a familiar Irish pattern."But sometimes accents that are closer to your own are harder to do than ones that are completely different." 'More Scouse' Dr Paul Cooper, a senior lecturer in English Language at the University of Liverpool, said there was academic research to back up the idea that "Scouse was getting more Scouse" than it used to be in the time of the said research by linguistics expert Marten Juskan into the changing sound of the Scouse accent supported the claim."Also," said Cooper, "I think younger people are now looking at the accent more favourably than maybe it was looked at 30 or 40 years ago."There's always been a strong sense of pride in the accent, but I think in the 1980s and 1990s you got the Harry Enfield Scousers stuff and it maybe became viewed a bit more negatively."I think now it's viewed a bit more favourably again. Plus, Liverpool is much more of a tourist destination now, and the accent is thought of as very welcoming and very friendly." But what does an actor who has taken on not one but two Beatle roles think the challenge will be for the actors taking on the Fab Four in Mendes' films? Michael Hawkins played John Lennon in the successful stage show Cilla: The Musical based on the life and career of Liverpool entertainer Cilla Black, and, in his first TV role, George Harrison in the 2014 ITV serial biopic Cilla, with Sheridan Smith taking the title said: "You've got to do your research, watch as much stuff as you can. "Obviously in the films like Hard Days Night they're sort of playing a version of themselves, but with the Get Back film, you see more of them as how they were."So many people feel like they know them so well that if you get something a little off, it'll make people wince."It's about getting the authenticity, and not doing a caricature."The 35-year-old, a member of "parody band" Ugly Baby, said even as a born-and-bred Scouser he was not immune from scrutiny for his portrayal of Harrison in added: "I didn't really change my accent much for playing George. And then one of my mates sent me a review, from the Mirror, I think it was, where they were saying George's accent was just a general northern one, with no hint of the 'Pool."And I was the only Scouser out of the four of us." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
CBC
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Meet the (onscreen) Beatles: Who are the actors starring in separate Fab Four biopics?
Social Sharing While the loose lips of Hollywood have seen the likely cast members for an unprecedented series of Beatles biopics previously leaked in the media, moviegoers and fans of the band got their first look at the four actors playing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on Monday. Harris Dickinson, Barry Keoghan, Paul Mescal and Joseph Quinn were officially introduced at Cinemacon in Las Vegas, with Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes also on hand to hype the project, which is being heralded as the first time that Apple Corps Ltd, the company founded by members of the Beatles, has signed off on such a project. The four films, each told from the perspective of a band member, will be released "in proximity" to each other in April 2028, Mendes said, adding that Sony Pictures executive Tom Rothman described it as "the first bingeable theatrical experience." There are few precedents to the ambitious plan; on a much smaller scale, Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colours trilogy of films were released over the course of a year in 1993-94. Keoghan, at 32, is the oldest of the bunch, and also older than any Beatle was when they broke up in 1970. The ability of the actors to portray the musicians over their dozen-year existence has been the subject of online chatter so far, as well as a debate whether any of them resemble the band members. WATCH | A stunning Beatles find in Vancouver: Rare early recording of The Beatles unearthed in Vancouver record store 11 days ago Duration 2:50 In Liverpool, where the lads where influenced by Britain's skiffle music craze to pick up instruments and form bands, it has not escaped notice that two of the actors are Irish, and two are Londoners. "They couldn't have found four Scousers?" one commenter exclaimed, using the nickname for the northwest port city's residents. Mendes's filmography — American Beauty, Spectre, Revolution Road — has focused on fictional characters and not biopics, but he has staged several theatre musicals in his career. Many questions remain, from the order in which the films will be released, to how the busy actors will be able gel together and capture the band's madcap energy in their early years. Nevertheless, the project promises the most sweeping look on film at the group. Previous biopics on the big screen and television have tended to focus on specific periods or storylines, with Harrison and Starr largely overshadowed. The Birth of the Beatles (1979) and Backbeat (1994) dealt with the group's earliest years, with the latter film predating Starr's time in the band. Backbeat — later adapted for the stage — was centred in Germany, with a look at the relationship between Lennon and Stu Sutcliffe, the onetime Beatles member who died suddenly in 1962, just months after leaving the group. Here are the cast members announced Monday: Harris Dickinson as John Lennon Dickinson, 28, has already portrayed an eclectic list of real people in a career just a decade old — Prince Phillip, actor-director Richard Attenborough, oil tycoon scion John Paul Getty III and the doomed wrestler David Von Erich in the Iron Claw. Dickinson was most recently seen by many in a lead role opposite Nicole Kidman in the erotic thriller Babygirl. Lennon's premature death at 40 has seen him the focus of more portrayals than the rest of the band members. Even his assassination has been covered in a biopic, with future Oscar winner Jared Leto playing Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, in 2007's Chapter 27. Ian Hart earned praise for his Lennon portrayal in Backbeat, while Doctor Who actor Christopher Eccleston starred in the public television offering Lennon Naked in 2010, focusing on Lennon's tumultuous 1967-1971 period when he struggled with drug use, first met Yoko Ono and began to create music outside the group. The couple's life also got the made-for-TV treatment in 1985's John and Yoko: A Love Story. Nowhere Boy (2009) looked at Lennon's seminal adolescence — his parents split acrimoniously and his mother died when he was 14 — while Two of Us (2000) saw actors Jared Harris and Aidan Quinn play Lennon and McCartney, respectively, as they navigated their relationship in the mid-1970s after the contentious split of the Beatles. Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney Mescal starred in Gladiator II and All of Us Strangers and was nominated for an Oscar for Aftersun. The Irish actor's participation is not a surprise, inadvertently revealed late last year by Gladiator II director Ridley Scott. Mescal, 29, told CBC's Q in 2022 that he didn't have a roadmap in terms of choosing roles. "It's always going to be related to the filmmaker or the director and the source material — if it's a character I feel like I can represent accurately and truthfully, I'm going to do that," he said. While the pressure will be intense to live up to the expectations of fans in any of the four roles, comments attributed to McCartney have seen the music legend express some displeasure with previous portrayals. Joseph Quinn as George Harrison Quinn, 31, also just appeared in Gladiator II. The London native first attracted attention to many outside of Britain with an appearance in the fourth season of Stranger Things, and will see his profile raised in the next year or so with multiple appearances as Johnny Storm, the Fantastic Four's Human Torch, in Marvel films. "It's important to follow the stories that interest you, the filmmakers that have something interesting to say," Quinn told The Associated Press recently. "If recognition comes along ... it's in service of making the film." Harrison, who died in 2000, will get his moment in the sun onscreen after being closely associated with the film industry after the Beatles broke up. Harrison's HandMade Films produced and distributed films which included Monty Python's Life of Brian, Time Bandits and Withnail and I. While Harrison hasn't been depicted onscreen as much as Lennon and McCartney, future Doctor Who and Thick Of It actor Peter Capaldi — sporting a rad mustache — played Harrison in 1985's John and Yoko: A Love Story. WATCH | George Harrison in 1969 on the complicated business of the band: Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr Keoghan, another Irish actor, has taken a turn on the award show circuit for a few years now. The Banshees of Inisherin, from 2022, earned him Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and it won him a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA). Keoghan's performance in the following year's Saltburn also resulted in Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Starr, who enthusiastically greeted the Beatles film announcement in February 2024, later in the year tipped off to Entertainment Tonight that Keoghan was set to sit on the drummer's stool for the Mendes movie. "I believe he's somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many," Starr joked. WATCH | Ringo Star in conversation with CBC (2021): Tom Power catches up with legend Ringo Starr 4 years ago Duration 8:28 Ringo Starr in conversation with CBC Radio Q's Tom Power on how the legendary Beatles' drummer is making music during the pandemic.
USA Today
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Four Beatles movies out in 2028: See who's playing John, Paul, George and Ringo
Four Beatles movies out in 2028: See who's playing John, Paul, George and Ringo Show Caption Hide Caption Ringo Starr reveals his thoughts on The Beatles' 'Now and Then' Ringo Starr chats with USA TODAY's Melissa Ruggieri about his "brothers" in The Beatles and the band's final song "Now and Then." LAS VEGAS – A new Fab Four has arrived. Monday night at CinemaCon, the annual convention for theater owners and studios, Sony Pictures finally spilled details about its ambitious four-movie "The Beatles" event. And because it involves what director Sam Mendes considers "the most significant band of all time," he brought out his entire supergroup of actors, Avengers style, starring in these intersecting music biopics: Paul Mescal is playing Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn inherits the guitar of George Harrison, Barry Keoghan will be drumming as Ringo Starr, and Harris Dickinson has been cast as John Lennon. "The Beatles changed my understanding of music. Pretty much, they made up my first memories," Mendes said. He revealed that all four films – which will be in production over the course of a year – will come out in April 2028, calling it "the first binge-able theatrical experience." Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox The filmmaker added that the quadrilogy will be told from the perspectives of "four different human beings," characters and events will cross over between the movies, and "seeing all four films in proximity tells the story in a unique way." The Beatles biopics were first announced in February of last year, with McCartney, Starr and the families of the late John Lennon and George Harrison all signing off on the project through the band's Apple Corps. Ltd. (Sony Music Publishing, by the way, controls the rights to the majority of Beatles songs.) The Beatles and movies go way back, appearing in five movies themselves between 1964 and 1970, including "A Hard Day's Night" and the animated "Yellow Submarine." There have been a few attempts at the biopic treatment, from the 1994 indie drama "Backbeat" – which centered on Lennon's relationship with Stuart Sutcliffe before the Beatles were superstars – to 2009's "Nowhere Boy" with Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a teenage Lennon. And then there are the many documentaries over the years, including Peter Jackson's "The Beatles: Get Back" in 2021 and "Beatles '64" last year. Mendes allowed that, while a lot of the Beatles story has been told, "I can assure you there is still plenty left to explore. "The music will be astonishing and I promise you it'll be worth the trip."
