Fab four stars revealed for major Beatles films

Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan have been confirmed as part of the all-star line-up who will play members of the Beatles in four major new films about the band.

Normal People and Gladiator II actor Mescal will portray Sir Paul McCartney, while Saltburn star Keoghan will step into Ringo Starr's shoes.

The acting supergroup will also feature Harris Dickinson, who was most recently seen opposite Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, as John Lennon.

And Joseph Quinn will go from Marvel's Fantastic Four to the Fab Four, playing George Harrison in the big-screen quadrilogy, which will be directed by Sir Sam Mendes.

The Oscar-winning director was joined by the four actors for the announcement at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas on Monday.

Each film will focus on a different member of the legendary group.

"Each one is told from the particular perspective of just one of the guys," Sir Sam told the event. "They intersect in different ways - sometimes overlapping, sometimes not.

"They're four very different human beings. Perhaps this is a chance to understand them a little more deeply. But together, all four films will tell the story of the greatest band in history."

The films will be released "in proximity" to each other in April 2028.

The director explained: "I just felt the story of the band was too huge to fit into a single movie, and that turning it into a TV mini-series just somehow didn't feel right."

While several previous films have depicted The Beatles, this is the frst time the band members and their estates have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.

Sir Sam called the films the "first binge-able theatrical experience", adding: "Frankly, we need big cinematic events to get people out of the house."

On stage, Dickinson, Mescal, Keoghan and Quinn recited from the band's song Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: "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."

They then gave a Beatles-style synchronised bow.

Formed in 1960, the original band transformed youth culture and changed the course of musical history.

Restlessly imaginative and experimental, they had an uncanny ability to communicate sophisticated musical ideas to a mass audience, on albums including Revolver, Sgt Pepper's and The White Album.

Despite splitting in 1970, the quartet remain the biggest-selling band of all time.

Only two members survive. John Lennon was murdered in 1980, while Harrison succumbed to cancer in 2001.

In 2023, the surviving members released what was described as the Beatles' "final" song, Now And Then.

Based on one of Lennon's old demo tapes, and featuring an archive recording of Harrison's guitar work, it went to number one and was nominated for awards at the Brits and the Grammys.