New Casting for Beatles Biographies
Sister of John Lennon stated that an actor from Liverpool is set to portray him in the upcoming Beatles biographies directed by Sam Mendes.
- Read more: New Doc ‘One To One: John & Yoko’ is a lesson in using your platform forever
Details on the Films and Cast
The official casting announcement was made last week for a series of films, each focusing on different members of the band, under the direction of former Bond director Mendes. Actor London Harris Dickinson, who starred in Baby, will take on the role of Lennon, alongside Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney.
In an interview with Telegraph, Lennon’s sister, Julia Baird, shared her thoughts on the casting of her late brother. “Yes, of course,” she responded when asked if Dickinson should play him. “No one else can capture that Liverpool intonation. Nobody.”
John Lennon has been portrayed multiple times in film and television by various actors. Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston played him in the 2010 television film Lennon Naked, while Aaron Taylor-Johnson depicted a younger version of the musician in the 2009 film Nowhere Boy. Robert Carlyle portrayed an alternate version of Lennon in 2019’s Yesterday, which imagined a world where the Beatles never existed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epzecpyyd8k
The most notable Liverpudlian actor to play Lennon was Jan Hart, who took on the role twice in the 90s and again for a brief appearance in the 2013 film Snodgrass, where he portrayed an elderly character who never joined the Beatles.
When discussing consultation on the film, Baird commented, “(Mendes) is never going to ask me! I am the last person he would want to talk to, because then he won’t be able to do it.” Later in the interview, she described John Lennon as: “A brilliant older brother, very powerful – a family legend.”
She expressed regret over his fame, noting that it ultimately led to his murder at the hands of fanatic Mark David Chapman in 1980. “Being John’s sister is a privilege I cannot fully describe. But given the choice, I would have preferred him to be a teacher of art, and to still be here.”
All four films about the “Beatles” are slated for release in April 2028, a project that Mendes describes as the first “Bingeable Moment in Cinema.” Recently, fans have been sharing their opinions on the casting online.
https://www.nme.com/news/film/john-lennons-half-sister-says-he-should-be-played-by-a-scouser-in-sam-mendes-films-3852493?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=john-lennons-half-sister-says-he-should-be-played-by-a-scouser-in-sam-mendes-films
