صدى البلد البلد سبورت قناة صدى البلد صدى البلد جامعات صدى البلد عقارات
Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie
ads

"Stranger Things" Star Joseph Quinn Cast as George Harrison in Beatles biopics


Mon 16 Dec 2024 | 03:36 PM
Yara Sameh

Joseph Quinn (Gladiator II, Stranger Things) is set to play George Harrison in the four-part Beatles film series. 

According to the Deadline, Quinn has been inseparable with a guitar while filming Fantastic Four overseas. 

Sam Mendes, who’s directing and overseeing the project, now has 75 percent of the iconic English rock band: Barry Keoghan and Paul Mescal will portray Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, respectively, while Harris Dickinson is considered to be the front-runner for John Lennon. 

Eschewing a standard biopic structure, Mendes’s films will intersect to “tell the astonishing story of the greatest band in history,” leading up to their 1970 breakup, according to a press release. 

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the families of the late John Lennon and George Harrison all have granted full life story and music rights for the scripted films.

Sony Pictures Entertainment will finance and distribute the movies theatrically in 2027. The studio promises the strategy will be “innovative and groundbreaking.”

Despite it being risky to premiere all four movies in the same year, music movies, however, have been surging in popularity at the box office. Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” and Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love” were bigger hits than expected, while Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” a cinematic rendering of her record-breaking concert, outperformed several Hollywood franchises in terms of global ticket sales.

Several other looks at musical legends are in the works; Antoine Fuqua is turning Michael Jackson’s life story into a feature, Amy Winehouse is getting the biopic treatment with “Back to Black” and Ridley Scott is in talks to direct a movie about the rise of the Bee Gees.

In addition to directing, Mendes will produce alongside his Neal Street Productions partner Pippa Harris, and Neal Street’s Julie Pastor. Jeff Jones will executive produce for Apple Corps Limited, the multi-media organization founded by the Beatles in 1968.

This is the first time the Beatles have granted their full support for a scripted movie. The band has been the subject of several documentaries including the 1970s movie “Let It Be,” which chronicled the group’s breakup, as well as Peter Jackson’s “Get Back,” which captured the making of their album “Let It Be.” 

Their songs also inspired movies like the 2007 jukebox musical “Across the Universe” and 1978’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Despite their global following, not everything the Beatles touch turns into cinematic gold — “Across the Universe” flopped, for instance.

The members also appeared in their own movies, including 1964’s “A Hard Day’s Night,” 1965’s “Help!,” 1967’s “Magical Mystery Tour” and 1968’s “Yellow Submarine.”