“Each man has his own story, but together they are legendary. The Beatles”.
Yes, you heard that right, that’s the new tagline for the four Beatles biopics.
Last February when Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that Sam Mendes was going to direct four separate biopics depicting the stories from each member of The Beatles point of view, the whole internet couldn’t help but wonder who was going to be cast? Rumors swirled and fans came up with fan-casts of who they thought would portray each member the best, but more importantly, we now know who our fabulous four are.
At CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Sony Pictures confirmed the four leads and brought them out on stage. Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. CinemaCon is an annual convention for major Hollywood studios to present their upcoming projects to movie theater employees around the world. Keoghan’s casting doesn’t come to a surprise, because Ringo Starr himself confirmed it saying “I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many”. Gladiator II director Ridley Scott can now finally take a deep breath that the news is out considering he practically confirmed the rumor that Mescal would play McCartney when asked if Mescal would star in any more of his films saying “Maybe, Paul is actually stacked up, doing the Beatles next. So, I may have to let him go”. Mescal on the other hand tried his absolute hardest to deny the rumors.
Paul Mescal is best known for his roles in Normal People, Aftersun, All of Us Strangers, and Gladiator II. Joseph Quinn is best known for his roles in Stranger Things, Gladiator II, and A Quiet Place: Day One. Harris Dickinson is best known for his roles in The Iron Claw, Where the Crawdads Sing, and Babygirl. Barry Keoghan is best known for his roles in Saltburn, The Batman, Eternals, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
It’s not known why these actors were cast, but I will say, these actors do have a somewhat striking resemblance to who they’re playing. They also are extremely talented, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they portray each member. We’ve seen how actors like Austin Butler who played Elvis in Elvis or Timothée Chalamet who played Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown completely transform into the singers. Their performance was extremely believable, so I’m hoping it’s the same for these four.
It’s some pretty big shoes to fill when you’re cast to play members of arguably one of the best bands of all time. The band truly shaped the future of music in all aspects and are the biggest-selling music act of all time according to the RIAA.
The band formed in 1960. Originally in 1956, John Lennon and some of his friends played in a band called Quarrymen, John met Paul and later joined the band as a rhythm guitarist. Paul then invited George to watch the band perform and he even auditioned, John thought he was too young, but he kept trying and ultimately was their lead guitarist. In January of 1959, the three boys were playing under the name Johnny and the Moondogs. Stuart Sutcliffe, a friend of John’s, suggested they should be named the Beatles instead, using the name as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets. They used different variations of the name (like the Silver Beatles), but then they shortened it to The Beatles. Ringo Starr was hired in 1962 to be their drummer and left his band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join The Beatles. As a band, they influenced several modern music techniques by the way they recorded their music. They pioneered the way for multi-track recording, artificial double tracking (ADT), and experimenting with tape manipulation. Yes, multi-track recording has been around since the 1940s, but a typical two track was the industry standard. By truly getting involved in the creative process and exploring unlimited possibilities, they were able to discover new recording techniques that created a whole new way to make and produce music. They layered their tracks, looped the instruments, overdubbed sections, spliced tape together, and even ran it backwards through the tape machines to come up with a different sound. They didn’t influence artists, they also influenced rock and roll. The Beatles represented and embodied a spirit of love, peace, freedom, rebellion, and revolution. Once they became popular, their rise didn’t stop. They were yet another British band to take over the music scene during the British Invasion through which The Beatles reached American culture. Fans of The Beatles felt that they were united and connected with the band, which is how “Beatlemania” came to be. The term Beatlemania was created in 1963 after the band started to gain more traction. The Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, and the rest is history. It’s no surprise when I say The Beatles had a significant impact on culture back in the 1960s and they still do even today. They paved the way for boybands and their fans should be studied for years to come. It wouldn’t be an absurd take if I said Beatlemania helped influence how fan culture is shaped today. Although the band broke up in 1970, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 (which was their first year of eligibility). Since then, each member has been inducted as well as a solo artist.
Mendes is the director but will produce the film alongside Pippa Harris and Julia Pastor for Neal Street Productions, which is in association with Apple Corps. Mendes is most notably known for directing Skyfall.
The cast took the stage and recited the lyrics “It’s wonderful to be here, it’s certainly a thrill, you’re such a lovely audience, we’d like to take you home with us” from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song came from their concept album (with the same name) and was created out of the idea of The Beatles becoming an alter-ego band.
All four films will premiere in April 2028, and Mendes calls the films the “first-binge-able theatrical experience”. Each film is premiering in the same month, so which one do you see first? Well, Mendes says he has a specific order in mind, but he didn’t elaborate further.
There are clearly more sides to their story, so is it possible that in order to obtain the rights the film has to produce an approved version? Well, producer Pippa Harris says there is “nothing off limits and no sense of the band wanting him (Mendes) to tell a particular ‘authorized’ version of their success”.
Obtaining the rights to one of the most iconic bands of all time had to be a challenge, but not for Mendes. Starr, McCartney, and the families of the late John Lennon, and George Harrison, have granted full life-story and music rights for the scripted film. To gain access to these rights, consent needs to be granted by all the living members and the families of the deceased members. It’s a long-complicated process that goes through multiple deliberations and negotiations over finances and what the catalogs are worth. Sony/ATV Music Publishing controls the publishing rights to the majority of their catalog, and The Beatles’ company Apple Corps holds the rights to the band’s recordings including the sync. Back in 2017, Paul McCartney filed a lawsuit against Sony/ATV in an effort to gain his ownership stake in The Beatles publishing catalog. He reached a settlement using a provision in the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 that allows the songwriters to reclaim the rights to the publishers’ share of the copyrighted works released before 1978 after a 56-year period. The deal was confidential, so we don’t know all of the terms made in the deal. The history of who owns The Beatles rights is a whole other story. Michael Jackson paid $47.5 million to buy ATV Music Publishing which included their catalog. When he died, his 50% share of Sony/ATV was passed on to his estate. His estate sold his stake back to Sony, which means Sony has full and complete ownership of The Beatles catalog.
Here’s a music industry breakdown: The rights to The Beatles music are split into different sectors. There’s publishing rights and master rights. The publishing rights fall under who owns the composition, what the song is made up of, like the lyrics and melody. The master is the actual recordings. Sony controls the publishing while Apple Corps and Universal Music Group control the master. Apple Corps didn’t sell the rights, instead they granted permission and made a deal with Mendes to use the music for the biopics. In order to make the films, all owners have to approve. This marks the first time there has been full access to their catalog, which is a huge deal. There’s been other movies in the past about The Beatles (Across the Universe and Yesterday) where there was a limited use of their songs. Sync rights are the rights required to use music in film, tv, or any type of media. Mendes needed to acquire the sync from Sony to use the songs and Apple Corps and Universal for the master.
There are two sides to every story, and in this case there’s four. It’s nice that as an audience, we’re going to see multiple perspectives of the band’s formation throughout their rise to fame and even beyond that. There’s so many rumors surrounding The Beatles, so hopefully these films give us more answers or more of a realistic point of view. We’ll be able to see the true influence each member had in the others’ lives, and what life looked like beyond The Beatles.
By Alexa LaMalfa