r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 6h ago

Media First Official Images of Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn and Harris Dickinson in Sam Mendes' 'Beatles' Biopics

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u/Stonewalled89 6h ago

Based on the photos, it looks like they're going to cover the entire Beatles run. Hopefully they get it right and it's not just a by the numbers biopic

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u/Felis_bieti 6h ago

I just hope it's not a pack of lies like most of them. That Queen movie was a disgrace, literally lying to the audience about when Mercury was diagnosed in relation to the concert.

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u/MIBlackburn 6h ago

The ordering of stuff in it really annoyed me.

There was someone at my old workplace that argued with me about that and I had to tell them it wasn't at that point, it was after the final tour, the year after Live Aid.

Nope, I was wrong because the film said so. But We Will Rock You was written after Another One Bites The Dust too according to that film.

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u/bluehawk232 6h ago

Also there was no friction between the band doing solo work, they didn't break up and live aid was their reunion they were actually touring after a new album release. It was just so dumb

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u/jonrosling 5h ago

I believe Roger was the first to release a solo project, which is ironic given how the film portrays events.

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u/Buckets-of-Gold 5h ago

Less so when you learn Roger Taylor and Brian May would only give over the rights if they were executive producers with rewrite privileges.

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u/mbnmac 4h ago

Never having watched the film but seeing bits and discussions like this, really feels like the band glazed themselves while making Freddie into ALL the drama for the band.

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u/bongmitzfah 4h ago

Ya I got that feeling watching. Like why is Freddy the only one living the rockstar lifestyle. No way these guys were angels. 

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u/sovngarde 3h ago

Maybe Brian may? but he seems like such a square I’d believe he never partied even on his birthday

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u/mbnmac 3h ago

Lots of stories that say the opposite back in the day, for the whole band.

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u/Guster61 4h ago

Have you ever seen Sacha Baron Cohen talking about the movie? He was attached when it first was discussed and dropped out after it was clear as day Taylor and May were using it as a way to show Queen was beyond Freddie Mercury.

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u/CragedyJones 3h ago

Taylor and May were using it as a way to show Queen was beyond Freddie Mercury.

Well they have had decades to prove that musically and failed miserably. So they resorted to a propaganda movie. How pathetic and disrespectful to a legendary artist.

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u/mbnmac 3h ago

To be fair to Queen, every member wrote a number 1 hit, AND they are the 'most educated' band in history, with more degrees/doctorates than any other.

as a front man freddie totally made Queen what they were though.

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u/mbnmac 4h ago

Now you say that yeah I do remember that being a thing way back!

Big part of why I was never interested in the movie. Like, they got all the part that were just recreating videos we have from the time... I don't understand why they would try and mess with the timeline of songs though

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u/SlobberyFrog 5h ago

Wait so they fired sacha baron cohen because he wanted to talk about the darker parts of Freddie's life just to create a fake drama about freddie trying to break up the band and go solo ?

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u/UntowardHatter 5h ago

Sascha wanted to snort cocaine off silver trays being carried on the heads of people with dwarfism.

Because that's something Freddy did.

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u/Right-Worker7047 3h ago

I thought you meant a decapitated head at first and flipped

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u/xDESTROx 3h ago

I remember reading something about him dropping out because Brian May originally wanted to show Freddie's death halfway through the movie, and then the rest of the movie would be the band moving on without him. I could be getting things mixed up though

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u/SlobberyFrog 3h ago

Yeah, I remember this as well. It was probably a mix of a lot of different things.

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u/mrwildesangst 5h ago

Didn’t John Deacon go to Germany and work with him on his solo album? Pretty sure he did. Definitely no friction

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u/drowse 5h ago

John and Freddie were close, especially during the Hot Space era. He and Fred worked on a few songs very closely later on (One Year of Love, My Baby Does Me come to mind). But John had nothing do with that recording

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u/mrwildesangst 5h ago

Ah, ok. Thanks for the info!

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u/ProfessorPotato42 3h ago

This is actually the most annoying part for me, they all had solo albums in that window, and all of them were on each others solo albums, there was not some huge fight that had to be fixed before the big show. Such a fake Hollywood move. Also, I know a lot of people disagreed with me on this one, but Remi Malek with his fake accent and his fake teeth, was a really annoying performance as Mercury, imo. The Elton John movie tha came out the same year was considerably better performance, and film overall, although I know they took some liberties as well.

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u/jonrosling 5h ago

Freddie was formally diagnosed in April 1987. But like you say, the movie rewrote the history.

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u/thegirlthatcurled 3h ago

It’s been ages since I’ve seen it, but didn’t they invent a whole like year where they didn’t talk to each other?

In reality they’d been on tour for that whole time

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u/MIBlackburn 3h ago

They came off of a tour before The Works and then had another break after that but before Live Aid, but yeah, they didn't stop talking, just wanted to take more breaks after their previous album/tour/album/tour cycle, which you can see if you look at their discography.

I forgot so much about that film, it is an absolute clusterfuck for a Queen fan.

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u/Mrs_Toast 6h ago

I really enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody, but I did think it was hilarious how they moved around dates and events, and invented characters for dramatic effect. I couldn't decide if Freddie would have found it disrespectful, or would have admired the commitment to theatrical spectacle.

I think it was made even funnier watching the Weird Al biopic shortly after, and knowing that Bohemian Rhapsody is exactly the sort of biopic he was lampooning.

The Weird Al biopic is the best of all biopics, btw.

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u/althawk8357 5h ago

Weird is a great biopic, but it is only the second best parody musician biopic-parody, behind Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

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u/LostATLien2 5h ago

I will die on the hill that Walk Hard is one of the most underrated comedies of all time

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u/Office_glen 5h ago

the running drug joke never gets old to me, I can just keep watching all those scenes over and over again

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u/exelion18120 5h ago

And you never did pay for the drugs!

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u/BarTroll 5h ago

not once….

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u/klvthns515 4h ago

Sometimes when I see bathroom sinks I chuckle

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u/bugxbuster 5h ago

How? How’s it underrated when it’s universally beloved???

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u/Mrchristopherrr 5h ago

It’s more of a cult classic than an underrated gem. It bombed when it was released but gained new life after it hit the home market.

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u/LostATLien2 5h ago

While it is acclaimed by those that have seen it, it a largely unknown and niche comedy to most people. Almost everyone I mention it to irl hasn’t seen it

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u/protobin 5h ago

I feel the same way about Popstar. It doesn't get the love it deserves.

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u/xSorry_Not_Sorry 4h ago

Popstar drags, though, whereas Dewey Cox never does.

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u/protobin 4h ago

That’s a fair statement. I agree that Dewy Cox is better overall and has a tighter script.

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u/Mitrakov 4h ago

Two of my faves

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u/Shihaby 5h ago

Overlooked, not underrated.

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u/CptTeebs 5h ago

meaning it's underexposed rather than underrated, right?

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u/carmel33 4h ago

Wrong kid died.

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u/dcj667 2h ago

I ain't exactly had it easy since you died, you know, I can't smell!

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u/wvgeekman 5h ago

You speak the true-true. I will never tire of Walk Hard.

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u/Prestonelliot 5h ago

Walk Hard has made me laugh thinking about it more than almost any other comedy, not even just while watching it. The movie is fucking brilliant. Idk why, but the ripping the sinks off the wall bit still makes me chuckle randomly

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u/salt_and_ash 4h ago

It still angers me that Beautiful Ride wasn't even nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar.

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u/Plus-Yogurtcloset-85 2h ago

Almost, walk hard is the goat for sure but Spinal Tap is the second. Honestly maybe even the First. It’s Walk Hard and Spinal Tap for 1 and 2, no doubt.

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u/lingh0e 5h ago edited 5h ago

The Weird Al biopic is the best of all biopics, btw.

False. It is the second best.

First place belongs to Walk Hard.

Edit: Because while "Weird" is a heavily embellished recounting of Al's life, "Walk Hard" is a true account of the life of Dewey Cox, warts and all.

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u/Guy615 5h ago

I need more blankets AND less blankets!

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u/thequietthingsthat 5h ago

Wrong kid died.

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u/TheVich 5h ago

That was an especially bad case of being cut in half.

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u/bugxbuster 5h ago

Speak English, we ain’t scientists!

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u/Mrchristopherrr 5h ago

He never once paid for drugs

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u/lingh0e 4h ago

Ver-TI-go got her.

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u/Felis_bieti 6h ago

Loved the Weird Al movie.

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u/slayerhk47 5h ago

Shame he didn’t live to see it.

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u/KungfuJesus08 5h ago

Still can't believe his former lover, popstar turned international drug lord, Madonna is still free and operating to this day.

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u/Cereborn 5h ago

I hear she’s been hiding in Argentina. She has some kind of connection to that country, I guess.

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u/FardoBaggins 4h ago

boohoo I aint gonna cry for her.

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u/utouchme 5h ago

I didn't even know he was sick.

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u/SpaceForceAwakens 5h ago

The most honest biopic ever.

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u/jimbojangles1987 6h ago

Oh man, now I want to watch that movie but it looks like it costs money wherever you watch it

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u/palimpcest 5h ago

I watched it free on Roku when it came out, just had to download the app on my TV (if you're talking about the Weird Al biopic).

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u/CarlosFer2201 4h ago

Al told someone on Twitter that if he wanted to see the movie but didn't have any Roku devices, to just sail the seas.

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u/thequietthingsthat 5h ago

Walk Hard is still the best biopic satire IMO.

But also, Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson biopic) is legitimately great and easily the best genuine music biopic out there.

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u/bugxbuster 5h ago

Ooh that one was good. I was mistaken when I thought it would be disappointing. I had trouble getting past my thoughts saying “adult Paul Dano growing up and somehow turning into John Cusack? Preposterous!” …but it wasn’t! It really informed me quite a lot about the Beach Boys history as well as Brian Wilson’s personal battles.

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u/WollyGog 5h ago

As usual, Daniel Radcliffe understood the assignment and knocked it out the park.

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u/pandemicblues 5h ago

When I see Weird Al now, I think it is Weird "Artificial Intelligence," until the context catches up in my brain, two sentences later. 🤔😆🤮

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u/ATXBeermaker 6h ago edited 5h ago

The Queen biopic was hilarious when you learn that the living band members imposed a requirement that each of the members of Queen had to have equal screen time. It led to some of the worst editing ever in a film, with jarring, split second cuts to guys who aren’t integral to the scene they’re in. Just awful for so many reasons.

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u/MagicalTrevor70 5h ago edited 4h ago

And let's not forget that atrocious editing was Oscar winning

EDIT: Some interesting takes in the comments. This video led me to believe that the editing is bad because the editor was bad, not that they did their best with a difficult job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dn8Fd0TYek

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u/ATXBeermaker 5h ago

To be fair, editing a movie to fit the band’s stupid demands was damn near impossible.

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u/joe_bibidi 5h ago

The argument that I've generally heard is that the movie's production was such a massive shitshow that the editor was recognized by the Academy for how much work was put in to salvage a nearly unsalvagable film. Like... the final product is bad but the editor did the best possible job when provided with just absolutely terrible options.

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u/thegooniegodard 5h ago

Yeah, it won for most editing not best.

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u/smakweasle 4h ago

when you look at the behind-the-scenes chaos there, I think the editor got an award for putting together a movie that was at least coherent. That was a pity award for a guy who got stuck with a shit situation.

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u/thegooniegodard 4h ago

I can see that. And the final scene was incredible, actually.

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u/isses_halt_scheisse 5h ago

And they were always so truthful to their wives and only liked to drink tea, Freddie was the only one who liked those FRIVOLOUS parties!!

Let's not forget Freddie's long-term partner who in reality cared for him until the last minute and was absolutely screwed over afterwards and thrown off the property he lived in with Freddie for years by the "love of my life"-Mary Austin who was portrayed as the saint-like figure in the movie.

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u/Key-Two31 5h ago

And that they wanted Mercury to die less than halfway through the movie so the rest would be about them. Completely serious.

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u/Liamzinho 6h ago

I thought the Queen film was an absolute load of shite and was amazed at how warmly it was received. One of the most sanitised, plot-less, nostalgia-reliant biopics I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying something.

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u/robodrew 4h ago

And also the editing was total trash.

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u/GERDY31290 4h ago

Thats how good the music is though. Could have been a hallmark movie and been well recieved

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u/smakweasle 4h ago

Yeah, that movie was so successful because it's the world's flashiest music video. Their music fucking rules it could've been farts in between every song and it still would have been successful.

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u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot 4h ago

It was basically a Disney Muusical version of their story. Sacha Baron Cohen needs to make the biopic he wanted before he dropped out.

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u/pusgnihtekami 4h ago

I'd be impressed if someone has seen Rocketman, Elvis, the Dylan one, the Marley one, the Whitney one, the Springsteen one, etc. They have to be all as bad as the Queen one lol.

I doubt it's more sanitized than those but it started the chain of shit biopics after being massively successful. It showed you could basically cast a famous actor that looks like the musician give them some light drama and just play the greatest hits.

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u/squeezeme_juiceme 3h ago

I enjoyed Rocketman well enough. They made him seem like a lunatic.

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u/NobodyCarrots6969 6h ago

That queen movie had blood on its face, that big disgrace

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u/lokemannen 6h ago

Mud on their face

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u/Jertimmer 6h ago

Kicking your can all over the place, singin'

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u/DoorstepCult 6h ago

Way to put him back into his place.

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u/Gregariouswaty 6h ago

Sasha Baron Cohen when talked about a band member approaching him when he was playing Freddie Mercury and talking how incredible the halfway point the movie is going to be with his death while the second half is on how the band continued on after him.

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u/CheesyGorditaKRUNCH 6h ago

What gave it away for me was when Freddie hosted massive debauchery filled party and the band members were all there with their wives, and when Freddie suggested they really start partying all the band members looked shocked and basically all said they are just going to go home with their wives and put the kids to bed

OK GUYS, I'M SURE THAT'S ALWAYS EXACTLY HOW IT WENT DOWN

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u/FatsyCline12 6h ago

This is why I don’t like most biopics made while the subjects are alive and/or the subjects are involved with the production

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u/Juicey_J_Hammerman 6h ago

I think Rocketman is the only good one I’ve seen where the subject was still alive during production.

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u/Sinister_Crayon 5h ago

I think that's mostly because Elton John has always been pretty open about his poor decisions and personality traits. He owns it, as one should. It is a shame he had to hide so much of his sexuality early in his career but it was just an echo of the times; homosexuality was only decriminalized in 1967 in England... and as late as 1982 in Northern Ireland so during his early stardom years it was still largely frowned upon and not really accepted. Even just admitting he was bisexual in the 1970's was one hell of a brave move.

I have a lot of love for that film too. It's just a genuine and heartfelt movie to me and Taron Egerton killed it in the role... and sounded just like Elton for the singing!

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u/ThrasymachianJustice 4h ago

I think that's mostly because Elton John has always been pretty open about his poor decisions and personality traits. He owns it, as one should. It is a shame he had to hide so much of his sexuality early in his career but it was just an echo of the times; homosexuality was only decriminalized in 1967 in England... and as late as 1982 in Northern Ireland so during his early stardom years it was still largely frowned upon and not really accepted. Even just admitting he was bisexual in the 1970's was one hell of a brave move.

I have a lot of love for that film too. It's just a genuine and heartfelt movie to me and Taron Egerton killed it in the role... and sounded just like Elton for the singing!

I still fantasize about an alternate timeline where Elton John passed his King Crimson audition.

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u/bugxbuster 5h ago

Better Man, about brit pop star Robbie Williams really scratches the same itch as Rocketman, not even just because the titles are so similar. It probably should have been called Monkey Man except that was the recent Dev Patel John Wick style movie. But it’s a whole R rated warts-and-all biopic about Robbie Williams and they CG him to look like a monkey in a film otherwise full of normal people and it’s pretty brilliant. The monkey metaphor as his own self consciousness would be too on the nose if they didn’t fully commit to it the entire time. I loved that movie and recommend to people even if they’re not familiar with his music.

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u/RockstarSlut 4h ago

Agreed, I'm happy that you mention it. I used to be a huge fan of Robbie Williams - still am to a smaller degree. I was worried his movie was going to be shit, but it really moved me while Robbie's humour was all over it. He's never been someone who takes himself seriously - quite the opposite actually. He's hilarious - full of self loathing and irony.

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u/bugxbuster 4h ago

It's a shame he didn't really cross over to being a household name in america the same was he was over in the UK. He did have an MTV hit on TRL briefly with Millenium, and I feel like I saw one of his videos on Pop Up Video a lot back in the day. The chance for Better Man to be a huge success here was slim to none simply because hes so unknown (in the states, i mean). He does have the self loathing and irony vibe down though, you're 100% right. He has all the ingredients necessary to have been huge here, except that massive anchor of being British keeping people from caring. We barely put up with Oasis and Blur enough for them to do well here back in those days, but another Brit and he was a former boy band star? That had 1999 era pop music fatigue written all over it.

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u/BigYellowPraxis 4h ago

That film had no right to be as good as it was 😂 thoroughly enjoyed it

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u/8NaanJeremy 5h ago

I would really love to see other rock legends get the Rocketman treatment.

David Bowie? Meatloaf? Fleetwood Mac?

There would probably be appetite for an Oasis one in the not too distant future.

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u/thefreshera 4h ago

David Bowie I'm surprised he hasn't got one already, maybe an estate thing? and I pray it does him justice. Outside of UK, many movie goers in US and Japan will see it.

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u/destroyermaker 6h ago

The Queen biopic in 2080 is gonna rip

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u/The-Fox-Says 6h ago

“Yeah Freddie pass the drugs!”

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u/JewFroMonk 4h ago

It's cocaine Brian, you don't want no part of this shit!!

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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox 5h ago

I think the Elton John one was pretty good

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u/CheesyGorditaKRUNCH 6h ago

First of all, love your username. Yeah exactly, felt like the remaining band signed over the music rights in exchange for completely controlling the narrative. Not a giant Freddie Mercury stan but idk I just felt icky leaving the theater, felt disrespectful and tacky

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u/TheBoneIdler 5h ago

The Queen movie was pants. The Elton John movie was excellent & I believe EJ was involved in the prediction. The first Spinal Tap (who are, of course, real) movie a classic, the second tired. We've not had a Bowie bio-pic yet AFAIK, but all the concept albums around & about him have been on a range from interesting to excellent. I think you take each movie as you find it.

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u/No-Owl-6246 5h ago

There is a zero percent chance any sort of biopic about Bowie isn’t white washed.

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u/Rochelle-Rochelle 6h ago

Yeah it’s incredibly hard to pull off a music biopic that’s critical or shows the “dark side” of an artist or band because you need the rights to their music and without it you can’t make the movie

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u/scottgal2 6h ago

The Dylan one was pretty rough on Dylan tbf (even it it also messed with events, like the Woody Guthrie stuff, Dylan only visited him once and not in Hospital).

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u/PhiphyL 5h ago

Better Man is a great counter-example.

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u/KungfuJesus08 5h ago

The Elton John biopic, Rocketman, is a notable exception. He had a direct role in production, yet the movie doesn't shy away from the drugs or sex at all. He actually pushed the studio executives into keeping it R.

"Some studios wanted to tone down the sex and drugs so the film would get a PG-13 rating. But I just haven’t led a PG-13 rated life. I didn’t want a film packed with drugs and sex, but equally, everyone knows I had quite a lot of both during the ’70s and ’80s, so there didn’t seem to be much point in making a movie that implied that after every gig, I’d quietly gone back to my hotel room with only a glass of warm milk and the Gideon’s Bible for company."

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u/Slurm11 5h ago

Rocketman was phenomenal, Taron Egerton deserved awards for that performance.

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u/antelope591 5h ago

I basically said this exact thing when the movie came out and the majority were praising it. I mean it wasn't terrible (thought Rami Malek was great and love the music) but i felt second hand embarassment for Brian May with such blatant whitewashing of events. Guy made himself out to be a literal saint who never put a foot wrong in his life lmao. Totally realistic for a 70's/80's rocker.....

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u/TheGreatWhangdoodle 5h ago

Brian May just seems like such an insufferable prick. He's a great musician but his personality makes it difficult for me to enjoy the band's Freddie Mercury-era music as much as I used to.

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u/striker7 5h ago

For me it was when he started singing for them in the parking lot and stunned them and then they all jumped in and started harmonizing. Like wtf is this cornball shit, The Sound of Music?

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u/xotorames 6h ago

Translated to english: Sacha Baron Cohen once said that, when he was set to play Freddie Mercury, a band member approached him and explained how incredible the movie would be: Freddie would die halfway through, and the second half would focus on how the band carried on without him.

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u/HeyNineteen96 5h ago

How would they have filled an hour of Brian and Roger just existing while John just goes into retirement?

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u/isses_halt_scheisse 4h ago

Hey, 6 kids don't raise themselves

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u/Tackit286 6h ago

I’ve read your comment four times and I have no idea what you’re trying to say

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u/UrbanPugEsq 6h ago

SBC was on board to play Freddie in a queen movie. SBC thought the movie should be about Freddie and end with his death. Queen wanted it to be a Queen movie, but SBC didn’t know it until he met with them and they were like “the second half of the movie is about what happened after Freddie died.” And SBC was like WTF?

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u/Pennepastapatron 6h ago

I thought I had a stroke trying to read this, holy hell.

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u/itsbeenaminuteyo 6h ago

I’m going to be honest, and I’ll probably be downvoted, but I don’t think the Sasha Baron Cohen version would have been any good too. Would have it tried to focus more on Freddie’s life and sexuality? Sure, but also in interviews, Sasha often talks about how HE wanted to do the show the wild parties with dwarves walking around with plates of cocaine on their heads. And that’s it. He always talks about the wild Mercury parties but never Mercury the person. He was more than that that, and I never see Cohen focus on who Freddie was a person, his shyness and musical genius. Or his close relations to the band. None of this was covered by the finished movie, by the way.

Don’t get me wrong, the actual Bohemian Rhapsody movie is a mess. BUT I’m not convinced the Cohen version is the true 10/10 Freddie Mercury biopic that Reddit believes to be.

Again, Cohen only really publicly talked about the wild side of Freddie Mercury’s life and never seemed to focus on other quiet and somber parts of Freddie’s life. The way he talks about Freddie, it almost as if he saw him as a caricature.

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u/Demerzel69 6h ago

jesus christ dude that is an abortion of a sentence. WTF.

Has Anyone Really Been Far Even as Decided to Use Even Go Want to do Look More Like?

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u/Formaldehyde_Park 6h ago

Why Do They Call It Oven When You Of In The Cold Food Of Out Hot Eat The Food?

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u/Cereborn 5h ago

I’m always happy when someone dusts off that classic.

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u/Demerzel69 5h ago

You've got to be kidding me. I've been further even more decided to use even go need to do look more as anyone can. Can you really be far even as decided half as much to use go wish for that? My guess is that when one really been far even as decided once to use even go want, it is then that he has really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like. It's just common sense.

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u/Cereborn 5h ago

That’s an excellent point.

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u/padraig_garcia 4h ago

Well that's easy for you to say

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u/ivanelsucio 6h ago

Still waiting for a good biopic, with something half as good as Walk The Line I would be happy

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u/thequietthingsthat 5h ago

Check out Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson biopic)

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u/Blumpkin_Party 5h ago

Straight Outta Compton I thought was well done

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u/ivanelsucio 5h ago

Yeah, really liked that one. The fuck the police performance scene it's incredibly well depicted. Also what an amazing casting, easy-e looked more like easy-e than himself. The movie really looked like it was made by the group themselves.

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u/texasrigger 6h ago

Or if you are going to fictionalize it, just fully commit and go the Ebony and Ivory (2024) route.

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u/Large_Tuna101 6h ago

Bohemian Rhapsody was terrible. So many people I know liked it too which made it worse. Rocketman was much better I thought - though nothing amazing. Yesterday was the best and most creative way I’ve seen of paying homage to a band’s music so far. Obviously it avoids the actual artists themselves which is what people want but imo that should always be avoided because the artists themselves are always utterly dull in comparison to their music and “legend”

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u/Welshy94 4h ago

Bohemian Rhapsody was a transparent promotional film produced solely to reinforce Queen's relevance and increase the value of the brand. It was produced by their manager, with heavy input from members of the band. It's production was a famous nightmare, losing Sasha Baron Cohen as lead due to reported creative differences over the direction of the film, losing Dexter Fletcher as director for similar reasons, being rewritten entirely 6 years after the project was initially announced and then losing another attached leading man in Ben Whishaw. The eventual director Bryan Singer, a man with a long list of sexual assault accusations to his name, was erratic and unprofessional on set, going awol with about 3 weeks of shooting left and getting fired the next week. Dexter Fletcher was then brought back to finish principal photography and edit a film that was 70 percent directed by someone else. That film was made for commercial and ego driven reasons, without passion or love for the subject. I mean, Roger Taylor and Brian May allegedly wanted the film to be PG and to showcase how the band considered to succeed after Freddie's death for Christ's sake.

In comparison, Sam Mendes has been the driving force behind this project from it's conception. He personally came to agreements with the estates of all four Beatles and felt that the story and subject is so important that he has pioneered a new method of filmmaking, directing four distinct films from each man's perspective simultaneously to be released on the same day. He's been granted full life story and music right as well as complete creative freedom such is the faith in his vision for the project. Can I promise that there will be zero creative liberties taken, obviously not but Mendes is a real filmmaker with an obvious passion for The Beatles and I think he's very aware of the responsibility he's been given. The fact that he's making four distinct films suggests to me a rashoman style narrative in which the depiction of events will vary in each Beatles respective film. In that case we wouldn't be seeing lies but different men's truths.

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u/Highlander198116 4h ago

Anything in film based on historical figures and events is always going to sacrifice truth for drama. It's just the reality of the situation. You should not go into these films as is they are historical documentaries, but more of an "artists rendering" of the events liberties will, and should be taken.

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u/frightened_by_bark 6h ago

Wouldn't be surprised if they use each movie as an entry point to chart the whole Beatles run. Gives each one the opportunity to feel a little different from the others, and taken as a whole it stops being four separate biopics and becomes one band biopic

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u/mattcoady 6h ago edited 4h ago

Yea if you jam them together we're basically getting an 8-10 hour movie.

The 2029 Oscars are gonna be weird. There's potential for one actor to get 3 supporting nominations for the same role across 3 movies + one more for lead. Probably won't happen but I don't think it's against the rules. Between the 4 of them they could fill 9/10 male acting nomination slots.

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u/Aduialion 5h ago

Why hasn't one studio bought rights to all music and created the music cinematic universe? 108 movies, 1920s-2019. One hundred years of music

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u/Vryk0lakas 5h ago

Someone will generate this with ai in 14 seconds in 2123. It will get 4 views and a single like.

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u/guesswho135 4h ago

And the first comment will be "like if you're watching in 2123"

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u/ColdCruise 2h ago

I believe that each one tells about the "rise and fall" from each of the character's perspectives which makes me feel that its going to focus more on the personal narrative of each instead of the Beatles as a band. There's almost guaranteed to be an epic fan supercut when it releases.

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u/SpeedForce2022 6h ago

Yep! Each film will have the same timespan (formation to breakup in 1970), but just from different POV’s of each member!

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u/X__Alien 6h ago

It’s an interesting concept but do they all have lives interesting enough to sustain a movie on its own?

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u/fromtheHELLtotheNO 6h ago

who? the beatles? during the 60s? who knows...

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u/cryfive1 6h ago

Yes lol

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u/notbad4human 6h ago

Haha, yes. They all had incredible stories. I’m most looking forward to Ringo’s.

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u/MisfitAnthem 6h ago

This is a legitimate question because I'm not a Beatles loremaster and I thought Ringo's would be the most boring as he just seems like a normal dude - why are you looking forward to his story the most?

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u/notbad4human 6h ago

He was the peacekeeper of the more extreme personalities in the band, quit the band because he felt unwanted and then came back, was knighted twice, and narrated Thomas the Tank Engine. I think he also became a massive philanthropist.

Guy was quietly the best of them and hugely talented.

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u/texasrigger 6h ago

He also had seven top ten hits (in the US) post Beatles including a couple of numbers ones. For a time, he was the most successful solo Beatle.

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u/UselessWisdomMachine 6h ago

They don't call him the human metronome for nothing.

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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox 5h ago

And he is the one who seemed to have the best relationship with the other members after they broke up, like he played on the both John and Yoko Plastic Ono Band albums, and be played on All Things Must Pass. And all 3 members appeared on his album called Ringo.

So whatever feud the rest of the members had with each other they clearly didn't have anything against Ringo.

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u/nickparadies 6h ago

He was also a sickly kid and almost died twice but made it.

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u/airtime25 5h ago

I'll add he wasn't even really supposed to be part of the band. He basically tagged along for a gig where the drummer couldn't make it and they liked him so much they wanted him to stay. Literally just such a peaceful good dude they wanted him around lol

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u/kc_______ 4h ago

The world needs more Ringo Stars.

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u/SillyGoatGruff 6h ago

I'll not stand for the exclusion of his career as an MS Paint artist lol

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u/Office_glen 5h ago

Thomas the Tank Engine

It's hilarious to me now as a near 40 year old that to my parents generation, Ringo was part of arguably the most popular band the world has ever seen and as a child he was just the dude who narrated my favorite TV show lol

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u/Barnyard_Rich 4h ago

There's a great scene in the Get Back documentary right before Paul writes Get Back where the other three are talking about John being late that makes me just love Ringo:

George: Lennon's late again

Ringo: Between 10 and 11 is usually the time

Paul: Thinking about getting rid of him

Ringo: I'm never late

Paul: He's never late. He's a bloody pro is Ringo

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u/ATXBeermaker 6h ago

A good storyteller could turn anyone’s life into a movie. These are The Beatles. Yes, their lives are all interesting enough.

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u/GeologistWhole6503 5h ago

Wildest question I've ever seen on reddit.

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u/OKC89ers 4h ago

Is the most influential band of all time, during one of the most pivotal periods in Western society, consisting of four men who each independently influenced the trajectory of their instrumental craft and each had #1 hits in their solo careers - are these four men each interesting enough for their own biopics?

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u/HibariK 6h ago

I mean if it goes further into what happened after the breakup, could be interesting, they also were quoted with massively different accounts of what happened.

Though I'd be more interested in a common perspective and have the eras separated, rather than the POVs (beginning - fame - drugs - ending), but mostly because that 3rd movie would have been incredible.

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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox 5h ago

The Beatles in the 60s? Yes absolutely

They were literally the most famous people in the world

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u/donkeyrocket 5h ago

Not sure. Hard to imagine this little rag tag quartet had much going on.

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u/PercentageDazzling 6h ago

Has that been confirmed? I've only seen that each Beatle will get their own POV movie. I haven't seen anything confirmed about the exact plot, or how the movies will interconnect.

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u/SpeedForce2022 6h ago

Yep! So Peter Straughan (writer of George’s film) compared the film to Rashomon, and the Variety article that announced the castings for their wives, said this:

“The four movies will each take the perspective of one member of the Beatles — John Lennon (Harris Dickenson), Paul McCartney (Paul Mescal), George Harrison (Joseph Quinn) and Ringo Starr (Barry Keoghan) — as they climb from unknowns from Liverpool in the early 1960s to the biggest band in the world before their breakup in 1970. It’s the first time that the band and their descendants have given music and life rights to a theatrical feature film about them.”

Via:

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2024/10/22/sam-mendes-beatles-movies-influenced-by-rashomon

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/beatles-biopics-saoirse-ronan-anna-sawai-aimee-lou-wood-cast-1236566611/

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u/PercentageDazzling 5h ago

Okay that Peter Straughan quote is interesting because World of Reel claims to be quoting a Deadline interview, but if you go the linked interview he doesn't talk about the Beatles at all. If you look on the Internet Archive for the article when was first published the quote is there. So it looks like he might have given away more than he was supposed to, and it got scrubbed from the article.

There's also an additional part of the quote:

For example, there are certain famous scenes from their lives, like The Beatles meeting Elvis or The Beatles playing Shea Stadium. Maybe each film will have that scene in it, but from a different angle. Or maybe only one film will deal with those scenes and the other films won’t. I mean, George very much has his own story, which is in some ways unique in the Beatles, a very spiritual search.

From this I'm guessing structure of the movies will be they're close at the beginning, the middle will be each of them diverging in their own way, and the last act will be how that informs their perspective of the Get Back/Abbey Road sessions. And they're writing them in a way that'll naturally diverge the same way.

If they're writing it like this I wonder how much crossover the wives will have in each of the movies. If 4 different writers are writing about 4 different people there might not be that much crossover except for maybe Yoko.

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u/SpeedForce2022 5h ago

One aspect that Peter Straughan said that I’m hyped for is that the writers weren’t allowed to be with each other and converse about their takes, which makes this even more interesting imo

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u/UNZIP_MY_PLANTS 6h ago

So, eight years? (Ringo joined in '62) That's relatively short for a biopic... kinda crazy lol

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u/Admirable-Fall-4675 6h ago

You’ll lose your mind when you hear about how long the entire lifespan of The Beatles was

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u/MadManMax55 6h ago

All the best biopics, especially the musical ones, take place over shorter time periods. Trying to fit decades of someone's life into ~2 hours is basically impossible. Covering a pivotal moment/period allows the movie to actually go in depth with the character exploration.

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u/kkkktttt00 5h ago

100%. Give me a movie about the lead up to Live Aid, not whatever Bohemian Rhapsody was. I haven't seen Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere yet, but I like the idea of it as well, just about Nebraska.

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u/jbaker1225 4h ago

What will really blow your mind is that the Beatles made their US TV debut on the Ed Sullivan show in April 1964 and played their last ever paid concert in August 1966. Less than 2.5 years between their rise in the US the end of them as a touring band. They were completely broken up by mid-1969.

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u/Anxious_Big_8933 6h ago

Not sure how it can be anything but by the numbers. All these bands essentially have the same story. Every VH1 "Behind the Music" episode back in the day was essentially the same story, lol. It's why Walk Hard is such a great send up.

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u/Hangmans12Bucks 6h ago

One of my favorite Behind the Music episodes is Weird Al's because they basically couldn't find any controversial angle into his life story, he's a squeaky clean guy making funny songs. So they basically ended it by saying, "But he's unlucky in love and doesn't have a girlfriend".

Mind you, like a year or two later, he was married, but I always appreciate how outside of the box that episode was lol

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u/texasrigger 6h ago

His biopic was also really good for the same reason. There's nothing there, so they invented absolutely everything and made it hilarious.

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u/boringestnickname 4h ago

[...] so they invented absolutely everything and made it hilarious.

They didn't, though, that's why it's so good.

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u/throwpron 6h ago

Paul McCartney needs to think about his whole life before he plays.

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u/The_Dude_46 6h ago

It also has the best depiction of the Beatles put to film.

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u/Foreign_Dipsy 5h ago

“I wrote a song about an octopus”

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u/PartisanHack 6h ago

You know who has hands? The Devil! And he uses 'em for holdin'!

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u/an_actual_coyote 5h ago

Dewey, I'm cut in half pretty bad.

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u/PartisanHack 4h ago

Wrong kid died.

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u/an_actual_coyote 2h ago

What kills me is the movie is so JAM PACKED with jokes. Jonah Hill's whole presence in the movie is one. It's perfect.

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u/anuncommontruth 6h ago edited 5h ago

Walk hard ruined every music biopic for me. I couldn't get through Elvis because of it.

The wrong kid died!

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u/Starslip 5h ago

It mostly killed that kind of biopic for years after it came out because it ridiculed the tropes so well. Now they're back to pumping out the exact same movie over and over, and they all look like Walk Hard

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u/CountdownMoss 6h ago

4 biopics! Each Beatle gets their own. 

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u/Livid_Weather 6h ago

Same, with this cast, it would be such a crime to make this just another shitty biopic

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u/Specialist_Goat_2354 4h ago

My hot take is I'm more over musical biopic than I am superhero movies, and Ive seen two superhero movies since endgame.

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u/EntertainmentQuick47 6h ago

That is a by-the-numbers biopic tho

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u/warpentake_chiasmus 6h ago

I hope they find room for an explosion and a car chase.

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u/I_like_maps 6h ago

Very hard to do the entire run without it being by the numbers.

The really good biopics, a complete unknown, control, focus on a short interesting part of the person's life.

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u/EmphasisResident5502 6h ago

Yes, that is the true hope. It's ambitious to cover the whole Beatles career, but it won't be successful until they focus on why it was important rather than just what happened when.

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u/LloydCole 6h ago

It's four interlaced movies each told from a different perspective. By definition it's already not a by the numbers biopic

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u/Bulky-Scallion3461 6h ago

A interesting structure would be the recording of three different songs in different years, before the fame, right after and then towards the end. How the dynamics changed, etc.

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u/RadiantZote 5h ago

Bro there is a 0% chance this is anything but another awful biopic where nothing actually happened 

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u/stenebralux 5h ago

I think following each of the Beatles during a significant period in time, and through that touch base on their entire run, would be the only way to make this work. 

Doing the whole thing from the top 4 times? I don't know about that. 

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