The films will be directed by Sam Mendes and released in the same year
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The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter published a "golden list" of young actors that the studios included Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, Timotheé Chalamet, Glenn Powell, and Florence Pugh, among others. But the most interesting information on the list comes from Paul Mescal. According to the publication, the future protagonist of Gladiator 2 and star of Aftersun, is one of the most popular actors to star in one of the four Beatles biographies that Sam Mendes will direct for Sony Pictures. THR, however, did not provide further information about which member of the group Mescal would be cast. Sony and Sam Mendes, responsible for 007: Operation Skyfall and 1917, announced a few weeks ago that they will release four Beatles films in cinemas in the same year. There will be four biopics, one for each member of the greatest band in rock history: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They all leave in 2027.
This is the first time that the producer Apple Corps and the band itself, now represented by McCartney and Starr, in addition to the families of Lennon and Harrison, have given full rights to not only tell the story of the Beatles but also to use their songs in the movie theater. The idea came from Mendes himself, who will direct each film telling each story from the particular point of view of the members of the band, widely considered the greatest in the history of rock, if not music. Naturally, the idea is that they are connected. Sony Pictures will finance the films and distribute them all with worldwide cinema releases during the year 2027. The release order of the biopics, as well as the dates for each one, will be announced later. According to Deadline, screenwriters are now being hired.
"We went to Los Angeles before last Christmas to pitch the idea, and it's fair to say we received universal enthusiasm," the director told Deadline. "The reason Sony stood out from the competition was because of Tom [Rothman, studio president] and Elizabeth [Gabler, producer]'s passion for the idea, and their commitment to releasing these films theatrically innovatively, and excitingly. "
This is far from the Beatles' first appearance in films. The group had numerous concert films, some highly acclaimed such as Beatles - Os Reis do iê iê iê, and more recently they were the focus of the ambitious documentary The Beatles: Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) in three parts and now available on Disney+. Versions of the musicians appeared in the comedy Yesterday, which imagines a world where the band did not exist. Mendes' films, still untitled, however, represent one of the greatest attempts to bring the band to the big screen to date.