New Beatles Biopics Unveil Inner-Circle Casting: McCartney’s Father, Lennon’s Aunt, and More

Sam Mendes is really going for it with this Beatles thing. Four separate movies, one from each band member's point of view, all under the same banner: The Beatles - A Four-Film Cinematic Event. Casting has been steadily rolling out, and now we know who is playing the family and inner-circle folks who were always just off-camera in the photos.

The new faces around the Fab Four

• David Morrissey (The Walking Dead, The Woman in Cabin 10) as Jim McCartney, Paul’s dad
• Leanne Best (This City Is Ours, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death) as Mimi Smith, John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi
• Bobby Schofield (Don’t Breathe 2, The Covenant) as Neil Aspinall, the longtime road manager and confidant
• Daniel Hoffman-Gill (The Sandman, Toad in the Hole) as Mal Evans, the roadie who saw it all
• Arthur Darvill (Legends of Tomorrow, Doctor Who) as Derek Taylor, the press officer and friend
• Adam Pally (Iron Man 3, Sonic the Hedgehog) as Allen Klein, the controversial late-stage manager

The core quartet and their partners

The band itself is led by Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison. On the personal side, Saoirse Ronan is playing Linda McCartney, Anna Sawai is Yoko Ono, Aimee Lou Wood is Pattie Boyd, and Mia McKenna-Bruce is Maureen Starkey. That is a very modern, very awards-friendly lineup, and yes, Adam Pally as Allen Klein is a curveball.

How it’s being made (and why that matters)

Neal Street Productions, Mendes’ company, is partnering with Sony Pictures Entertainment on the whole enterprise. The big swing here: Apple Corps Ltd. and the Beatles themselves—Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, plus the Lennon and Harrison families—have granted rights to the band’s full life story and music for a scripted movie for the first time. That is rare air for a music biopic and suggests the films will be able to use the songs and the real history without dancing around legal red tape.

Mendes is directing all four movies. Each one is told from a different band member’s perspective, which should keep the story fresh instead of rehashing the same greatest-hits montage four times. The scripts come from Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan, and Jack Thorne. Producing alongside Mendes are his Neal Street partner Pippa Harris, plus Julie Pastor and Alexandra Derbyshire. Production is underway, so expect a steady drip of news as the films lock in more roles and details.

Bottom line: an ambitious format, a cast with range, and the actual Beatles catalog in play. If you love this band—or just want a big, messy, human story about how four guys changed culture—this is one to watch.