“That’s not how we were”: Ringo Starr corrects a part of the 4-part Beatles movie’s script for authenticity

Paul, John, George, and Ringo will soon make a grand comeback with Sam Mendes' upcoming Beatles movies. Sony Pictures officially announced the project at the 2025 CinemaCon presentation, with their CEO, Tom Rothman, saying,

“There hasn’t been an enterprise like this before, and you can’t think about it in traditional releasing terms."

While this Beatles movie project received much attention, some fans had concerns about its script and the cast. They wondered how Mendes hopes to distill their stories in these four chapters. More recently, the Beatles member Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) criticized parts of the script, especially the scenes with his family and his first wife, Maureen Starkey Tigrett. He told The New York Times,

“[Sam Mendes] had a writer — very good writer, great reputation, and he wrote it great, but it had nothing to do with Maureen and I. That’s not how we were. I’d say, ‘We would never do that.’”

However, after the discussions, Starkey was satisfied with his depiction in the script (per the NYT). He further added,

“But he’ll do what he’s doing, and I’ll send him peace and love.

Previously, he also spoke about Barry Keoghan being cast to play him in the biopic.

The Beatles movie casting has received praise and scrutiny since the announcement.

As mentioned earlier, Sony officially unveiled the cast of the Beatles movies at the CinemaCon event. It revealed Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.

After the announcement, Starkey shared a positive reaction to Keoghan's casting. He told Entertainment Tonight,

“I think he’s great, I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons. I hope not too many.”

When asked about Sam Mendes' ambitious undertaking, Starkey added,

"We all support the Sam Mendes movie project. Yes, indeed."

However, not all reactions have been kind. One in particular scrutinized Irish actor Paul Mescal's casting as Liverpool native Paul McCartney. It came from John Lennon's sister, Julia Baird. She believed the role should have gone to a Liverpool actor instead of Mescal, who she claims is "in everything." She also had concerns about Mescal being able to crack the specific accent.

“I don’t think anything other than, have they been investigated and looked at Liverpool actors? Paul Mescal is in everything – get real, come on. There are more actors out there waiting for a go and for a chance. It will be interesting to see what kind of accent he comes up with, because nobody can do a Liverpool accent. They all get it wrong.”

Hopefully, Mendes and the cast will do justice to the iconic band's legacy as they depict it on the big screen. Per The Hollywood Reporter, it is a first-of-its-kind project that can use the band's hits in a scripted biopic. Previously, Aaron Taylor-Johnson played John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, but it mainly followed his adolescence and didn't include the hits. Unlike then, the Mendes project has received the license to use their music from the Beatles label Apple Corps.

The Beatles movie project is expected to come out in 2028, but no release date/s have been announced yet. Per THR, Peter Straughan, Jez Butterworth, and Jack Thorne are supposed to work on the screenplays. We will likely learn more details about its plot and the remaining cast of these Beatles movies.

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Edited by Debanjana