I'm a huge Beatles fan. I'm also a huge fan of when filmmakers take big, crazy swings and try to do things that seem equal parts crazy and impossible. As such, when it was announced that director Sam Mendes was going to make not one, but four movies about the lives of The Beatles, I was intrigued. Now that I've seen what the cast is going to look like, I'm absolutely astounded.
A variety of Instagram images have begun to drop on various accounts that reveal that a set of four postcards has been hidden around the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, and students have been encouraged to go hunting for them. Each one reveals a member of the cast, including Barry Keoghan, Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, and Harris Dickinson. Check some of the images out below.
It's a pretty interesting way to drum up interest in the films. LIPA was co-founded by Paul McCartney and has a studio named for George Harrison, so it's a fitting place for this little stunt. Still, it's a surprisingly limited way to start the buzz. Most people certainly won't be able to find these postcards themselves, but the images from those who are finding and posting them on Instagram are already gathering traction.
Sam Mendes' Beatles project will see four different movies shot simultaneously. As we understand it, each movie will tell, more or less, the same story of The Beatles, of their formation, success, and ending, but each will be shot from the perspective of a different member. One expects that events may not happen entirely identically in each film, as each person may see the events from a different point of view.
Barry Keoghan's Ringo looks amazing and like something right out of The Beatles' latter era. As a big Paul McCartney fan personally, I've been waiting to see how Paul Mescal pulled off the character. He looks like he's standing in the Cavern Club and about to break into an early Beatles performance.
A lot of fans are going to be most interested in how John Lennon is portrayed in the films. Harris Dickinson certainly appears to have nailed the look.
Finally, we have the unsung hero of The Beatles, George Harrison. Joseph Quinn is set to play Harrison, and I can just hear the opening notes of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" coming off this picture.
Beatlemania began in the 1960s and, to a certain extent, it's never really ended. We just recently saw the streaming debut of The Beatles Anthology, and Peter Jackson has spent about as much time working on Beatles documentaries for the last few years as he did on The Lord of the Rings. Needless to say, people are going to be excited when these movies all come out in quick succession, currently slated for early 2028.
Well, nobody can claim they don't look like The Beatles. They are as close to perfect as they'll need to be. Now I just need to hear the accents.
