Paul McCartney is fully behind Sam Mendes’ Beatles biopics project, but he says he warned the director against one specific detail in his depiction of the band.
The four films are slated for simultaneous release in April 2028, with each telling the Beatles’ story from a different member’s perspective. The cast includes Paul Mescal as McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.
But in a recent interview with Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast, McCartney revealed that he was alarmed when he saw the actors recreating the iconic Abbey Road album cover, striding across the famous zebra crossing.
“Guess what? [Mescal looks] smaller than the guy who plays John!” McCartney said. He insisted that all four Beatles were roughly the same height.
“I don’t know how Sam’s going to deal with it… but he sent me a still from the filming they’re doing, crossing the Abbey Road crossing, and the Paul character is markedly smaller.”
McCartney texted Mendes to express his concern. “Don’t do this!” he told the director.
Mendes reassured him that the apparent difference in height was down to “the stride pattern” — the way the actors were walking when the photo was taken. McCartney said the director then sent him another picture of the cast “where they were equal” in height.
McCartney had a similar issue with the 2009 drama Nowhere Boy, in which Thomas Brodie-Sangster played McCartney opposite Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Lennon. Brodie-Sangster also appeared smaller than his on-screen bandmate.
In related news, McCartney’s former fiancée Jane Asher, who dated him from 1963 to 1968, says she has no plans to watch the films. Meanwhile, George Harrison’s ex-wife Pattie Boyd said nobody involved in the project had contacted her about her portrayal. “I could have really told them great stories,” she said.
