Sam Mendes’ sprawling Beatles project, which is currently titled “The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event,” has found its Linda McCartney in Saoirse Ronan. Sony Pictures will release the films in 2028.
Ronan will join Paul Mescal (as Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (as Ringo Starr), Joseph Quinn (as George Harrison) and Harris Dickinson (as John Lennon). Each film will explore the life of a different band member.
Linda McCartney, born Linda Louise Eastman, was a fascinating figure. She began her life as a photographer for magazines and was soon photographing various entertainers and musicians. Later on, she learned to play keyboard and started collaborating with her musician husband. They recorded an album together – 1971’s “Ram” – and together they formed Paul McCartney’s band Wings.
She was also an outspoken vegetarian and even co-founded a vegetarian food company with her husband. In 1995, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away in 1998. She was only 56.
Mendes’ “Beatles” project will be written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne, with cinematography handled by the great Greig Fraser. The films are a collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Mendes’ Neal Street Productions. They will be produced by Mendes, Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor of Neal Street, as well as Alexandra Derbyshire, in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures. This is the first time that the Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd. have allowed the use of the band’s story and music in scripted films.
Other Beatles-based films include 2007’s jukebox musical “Across the Universe” (also distributed by Sony), Danny Boyle’s “Yesterday” from 2019, 1994’s Beatles origin story movie “Backbeat” and, of course, 1968’s animated masterpiece “Yellow Submarine.”
