Early last year, news broke that Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes would direct four scripted biopics about The Beatles, each told from the perspective of a different Fab Four member. With all films set to premiere in April 2028, Saltburn actor Barry Keoghan has been tasked with portraying Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. As one of two surviving Fab Four members, Starr recently revealed that he had a lot to say about Mendes’ script.
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Ringo Starr Is Now “Much More Satisfied” With His Portrayal
Concurrently filming four interconnected movies about the biggest rock band of all time is no small feat. Winning awards for movies like 1999’s American Beauty, Sam Mendes is certainly more up to the task than most.
Still, Ringo Starr was actually there for every second of The Beatles’ meteoric rise to fame. So the “Octopus’ Garden” singer—who turns 85 on Monday, July 7—flew to London in April to comb through the script with Mendes line-by-line.
Starr told The New York Times that most of his suggested rewrites involved scenes between himself and his first wife, the late Maureen Starkey Tigrett. “He had a writer — very good writer, great reputation, and he wrote it great, but it had nothing to do with Maureen and I,” said the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. “That’s not how we were. I’d say, ‘We would never do that.’”
Now, after extensive notes, Starr says he is “much more satisfied” with the films’ portrayal of him. “He’ll do what he’s doing,” the legendary drummer said of Mendes. “And I’ll send him peace and love.”
Barry Keoghan Could Barely Look at Ringo At First
Although Sam Mendes is certainly not the first director to take on the Beatles’ story, he is the first to do so with full cooperation from Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison. Aside from Keoghan, the films will star Paul Mescal as McCartney, Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn as Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as Lennon.
During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Keoghan admitted to feeling awestruck by the Beatles legend. “When I was talking to him, I couldn’t look at him. I was nervous,” said the Oscar-nominated actor, 32. “But he’s like, ‘You know, you can look at me.’”
Featured image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for ABA
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