Well this is completely unexpected yet entirely delightful news: Sam Mendes has secured the rights to helm a Beatles biopic project. In a move as unique as the Fab Four themselves, Mendes will direct not one but four films, one for each band member. The press release says they’re still speaking with writers (and the projected release date isn’t until 2027 at the earliest), so no sense yet on how each film will reflect its particular Beatle. But already I’m getting Rashomon meets The Alexandria Quartet vibes. I feel like this whole endeavor is going to be either wonderfully imaginative, or a big disappointment. Oh how I hope they pull it off! The producers issued (gushing) statements when the news broke:
It’s a big coup to have gotten all parties on board: In a move that ought to make fans of The Beatles twist and shout, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes and his Neal Street Productions have set plans to make four separate theatrical films, one on each of the members of music’s most famous and enduring band. Mendes will direct all four of the films, and this marks the first time Apple Corp Ltd. and The Beatles — Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison — have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
From Sam Mendes: “We went out to L.A. just before Christmas to pitch the project, and it’s fair to say we were met with universal enthusiasm,” Mendes told Deadline. “The reason Sony stood out from competing offers was down to Tom [Rothman] and Elizabeth [Gabler]’s passion for the idea, and commitment to propelling these films theatrically in an innovative and exciting way.” In addition to directing all four films, Mendes will produce alongside his Neal Street Productions partner Pippa Harris and Neal Street’s Julie Pastor. Jeff Jones will be executive producer for Apple Corps Ltd.
From Pippa Harris, Mendes’ producing partner: “This project springs from an idea of Sam’s which he had over a year ago, and it’s a testament to his creative brilliance and powers of persuasion that Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sean Lennon and Olivia Harrison responded with such warmth and enthusiasm as soon as he spoke with them,” said Harris. … “We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time,” said Harris in a statement. “To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege.” … Harris told Deadline: “What is truly exciting is for Sam to have the freedom to delve into the lives of each of the Beatles, with nothing off limits and no sense of the band wanting him to tell a particular ‘authorized’ version of their rise to success.”
From Sony Pictures Chairman/CEO Tom Rothman: “I know I speak for our CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who was instrumental in making this happen, and every Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group colleague around the world when I say: ‘yeah, yeah, yeah!’ Theatrical movie events today must be culturally seismic. Sam’s daring, large-scale idea is that and then some. Pairing his premiere filmmaking team, with the music and the stories of four young men who changed the world, will rock audiences all over the globe. We are deeply grateful to all parties and look forward ourselves to breaking some rules with Sam’s uniquely artistic vision.”
Like I said, I’m really rooting for this concept to work. And I have a million questions already. Will it be the same writer(s) for all four films, or is the intention to have a different writer/voice for each one? Building off of that, will the creative teams be the same for all the films? If I were in Sam’s shoes (let me dream!) I would want each film to be as distinct from one another as possible. So I would lean into a different costume designer, production designer, director of photography, composer, etc for each film, to fully create four separate cinematic landscapes. This isn’t the place for your run-of-the-mill biopic. Any true nod to The Beatles would take a really big swing at risky, cheeky, silly, inventive, searing, spiritual, human choices. But what do I know? Half of what I say is meaningless…
Photos credit: JW / Bang Showbiz / Avalon and Getty
I think George’s movie will be the coolest followed by John. I wish each movie had a separate director though.
How funny! When I saw the headline the first thing I said was ” who in the hell is going to get off their butts to go see a movie about George Harrison?”
Lennon, for sure. 100%. Paul, sure, maybe. Ringo? If you were a super fan I suppose. But I know literally nothing about George. Your comment makes me wonder!
Martin Scorcese directed a very long documentary about George some years ago called Living in the Material World. If you can find it, check it out!
George actually was interesting. IIRC he was the only Beatle who grew up with both of his parents. He was very into spirituality but also a prolific cheater. (His first wife finally left when he had an affair with Ringo’s wife.) He was a huge supporter of Monty Python and produced some of their films. He actually had a long post-Beatles career as a film producer. Then there’s his interest in Indian music.
Honestly, each Beatle is fascinating in his own way. I’m sure I’ll watch all 4 films.
Then there’s Pattie Boyd, who was married to Harrison when Eric Clapton fell in love with her. He wrote Layla for her. She eventually left Harrison and married Clapton.
George was actually the biggest ladies man out of all of them and his personal life was often MESSY. Then there’s all the spiritual stuff he got into. He was stabbed by an intruder in his own home in 1999 and his son Dahni almost watched him die. He harboured a lot of resentment towards the other members (see Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary) because he didn’t feel his musical contributions were valued. He had a whip smart wit and was a very complex character.
I am a huge Beatles fan so I have so many questions about this. Same director but will they be using all the same actors? Do they have access to all the Beatles’ catalogue? Will the actors do their own singing? Will they really show them warts and all? The womanizing, cheating, alcohol and drug addictions?
Pattie Boyd’s memoir is really good. Like TikiChica says above, she wrote about Harrison.
Watch A Hard Day’s Night. George is THE stand-out of the four. So very young. So very cute…
Not a Beatles fan, however, I’m very intrigued by this and I would totally watch the films.
I’m curious if they are all going to use the same actors. Sounds like quite a big time commitment.
Same! This sounds really cool, but could devolve into a confusing mess. I really want Sam Mendes to pull it off.
Yea I would prefer a different director and different actors for each film kinda like The Crown.
I’m very intrigued and excited for this.
If done well it could be amazing.
Its be funny if Ringo only sees the back of people’s heads in him movie for the drummers perspective
I wonder if they will use a different time frame for each movie or if they will overlap? Like, one movie would cover childhood and forming the band. Second would cover the Beatlemania years; then one would do somehting like the making of Sgt Pepper and the band breaking up. And then the 70s/80s? That way they could have different actors in each movie. I am a huge Beatles fan and excited!
I was wondering this too. I hope he breaks with tradition and starts with anyone except Lennon – maybe start with Ringo, he’s the oldest, and had a Dickensian childhood in & out of hospital, then running with gangs. And he’s still alive to promote the movie, an important consideration.
Maybe he could do a short film from the POV of Paul’s recently returned Hofner bass? 😉
I’m also a huge Beatles fan and very excited & curious about this project – it’s huge.
yesterday I read that each movie would be told from a different Beatle’s perspective so I’m hoping that, while they cover a lot of overlapping stuff seen from each guy’s eyes, each movie will also cover stuff from their lives a part from the Beatles experiences. If it was the same event or few events but each movie told from a different perspective, it might just feel too repetitive for each to have it’s own movie
It would make more sense if each perspective was from a different time period. I would do Paul, Ringo, George and John (or John George) in that order and time frame.
Paul: creation of the Beatles in Liverpool, song writing partnership with John, Hamburg Germany and the creation of the Beatles look
Ringo: replacing Pete Best, Beatle mania in America
George: Revolver and start of psychedelic era, trip to India, White Album
John: Ending of Beatles. Yoko, Imagine. Personal projects and passing of 2 members.
I like the way you think
This sounds like a really cool project!
As a super mega Beatles fan, I am nerrrrrrrrrvous about this. I really like this concept but doubt that Sam Mendes has the talent to pull this off. His Bond movies were no good (I know ppl like Skyfall but I thought it was tedious to the extreme). I wish it were another director or 4 other directors.
I suspect the success of these movies will rely mostly on casting. And that Barbie-mania will be nothing compared with Beatlemania 4.0. As a Beatles fan, I look forward to these projects.
Are they going to talk about how they stole black music?? Their manager would come to the states, record black artists and take it to Liverpool. They would record it with a little tweak and make a killing. Never giving credit to the black artists.