Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, who directed films such as American Beauty, Skyfall, and 1917, will direct a biographical project about members of The Beatles. Each musician - Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr - will be dedicated to a separate painting.
“I’m honored to tell the story of the greatest rock band in history, and I’m excited to try to redefine what going to the movies can be,” Variety quoted the director as saying.
In addition to directing, Mendes will produce the project along with Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Life Backwards) and other colleagues.
The film will be produced by Mendes' company Neal Street Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
According to Deadline, for the first time in history, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have granted full film rights to the Beatles' life story, as well as to use the group's musical legacy in a feature film.
“This project was born from an idea that Sam (Mendes -
RT
) had more than a year ago. And the warmth and enthusiasm with which Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sean Lennon and Olivia Harrison responded when he contacted them testifies to his creative genius and power of persuasion,” the publication quotes Harris.
Still from the series “The Beatles: Get Back”
Legion-Media
Currently, the tetralogy is in the early stages of development. It is known that each film will reflect the view of one or another member of the Liverpool Four on the group’s work. It has not yet been announced which time period in the lives of the heroes will form the basis of the plot.
“We want this to be a uniquely immersive and epic cinematic experience: four films, shot from four different perspectives, that tell the unified story of the most iconic band of all time,” Harris said.
The release of all films about the Fab Four is scheduled for 2027.
Many feature films and documentaries have been made about the most famous and commercially successful group in the history of world music. In 1994, Ian Softley’s biographical drama “The Beatles: Four Plus One (Fifth in the Quartet)”, co-produced in Great Britain and Germany, was released on cinema screens. The plot centers on bass guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe, who played in the band for a short time.
Meanwhile, The Beatles' compositions were used in Julie Taymor's 2007 film Across the Universe. In order to adapt the group's musical works to the plot of the film, it was decided to name the characters in the film after names from Beatles songs. So, Evan Rachel Wood's character is called Lucy, as in Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, and Jim Sturgess's character is called Jude, as in the song Hey Jude.
Still from the series “The Beatles: Get Back”
Legion-Media
The works “Becoming John Lennon” (2009) by Sam Taylor-Johnson starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, “John Lennon” (2010) by Edmund Coulthard, the documentary projects “John Lennon: The Last Interview” (2020) and “John Lennon: Murder without trial" (2023).
Another member of the group, George Harrison, was the subject of documentaries “George Harrison: The Quiet One” (2002) directed by Ray Santili and Spyros Melaris and “George Harrison: A Life in the Material World” (2011) by Martin Scorsese. In the latter, the director explores the spiritual quest that has become the main component of the artist’s life.
About the group itself, in 2016, Ron Howard released the project “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - Years of Touring,” which collected video materials related to 250 concerts of the group. In 2021, director of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchises, Peter Jackson, directed the documentary miniseries The Beatles: Get Back. The action takes place in the studio during the recording of Let It Be and ends with The Beatles' last live rooftop concert on January 30, 1969. For the film, Jackson restored and digitized approximately 56 hours of previously unseen footage, as well as more than 150 hours of never-before-played sound recordings.
In Danny Boyle's 2019 film Yesterday, the action takes place in an alternate universe in which no one except the main character knows about the existence of The Beatles. In this story, John Lennon did not die at 40 and lived to an old age.
Last November, Paul McCartney released the Beatles' final song, Now and Then. The artist noted that he used special technology to extract John Lennon’s voice. Eight days later, the composition topped the UK music rankings.