Sam Mendes' four-film project chronicling the Beatles is set to film at London's Abbey Road Studios this summer, according to a production notice obtained by Deadline and reported by SPIN on August 7. The shoot is expected to involve about 80 extras and vintage vehicles outside the studio and in its front courtyard, coordinated with Westminster City Council.
Abbey Road carries outsized weight for the band: the Beatles recorded 190 of their 210 released songs there between 1962 and 1970, and named their final recorded album after the street outside. The production notice has fueled speculation the films could recreate the group's famous crosswalk photograph.
Mendes' project will tell the story of each member of the band across four interconnected films due in theaters in April 2028. Paul Mescal plays Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson plays John Lennon, Barry Keoghan plays Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn plays George Harrison, with Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, Aimee Lou Wood and Mia McKenna-Bruce cast as their respective wives, Linda Eastman, Yoko Ono, Pattie Boyd and Maureen Starkey.
Additional casting fills out the ensemble: Lucy Boynton will play Jane Asher, Paul McCartney's girlfriend through much of the 1960s; Harry Lawtey will play the band's original bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe, who died in 1962; and Farhan Akhtar will play sitar player Ravi Shankar, who mentored George Harrison.
The films are being written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne, according to Deadline. The Beatles' 1965 rock album Rubber Soul is also getting a deluxe reissue this fall, with an expanded edition featuring newly remixed audio due October 2.
The facts
- Filming happens at Abbey Road Studios this summer
- About 80 extras and vintage vehicles are involved
- The Beatles recorded 190 of 210 songs there
- Four films are due in theaters April 2028
- Mescal, Dickinson, Keoghan and Quinn play the Fab Four
- Rubber Soul gets a deluxe reissue October 2
- Boynton, Lawtey and Akhtar round out the supporting cast
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