Why Paul McCartney is already annoyed by Beatles biopics

The former leader of the Liverpool group directly challenged Sam Mendes about the (small) size of Paul Mescal, who will play him in the four films dedicated to the group…

For Paul, size matters!

Paul McCartney has a problem with Beatles films. And he wants Sam Mendes to know it before the release of his four biopics dedicated to the group. Podcast guest Good Hangthe English musician said he sent a message to the director to ask him not to repeat a mistake that has dogged him for years: representing him smaller than John Lennon.

“We were all the same height! We were all the same height, although Ringo was a little shorter. If you look at the photos, we’re all the same size!”

Indeed, Paul Mescal measures 1.80, like Paul McCartney and like John Lennon. Except that Harris Dickinson, who will play Lennon, is… 1.88 m tall! He therefore risks upsetting everyone in the four films. This is already the case in this image from filming: a scene where the four Beatles cross the famous Abbey Road pedestrian crossing, with Paul clearly smaller than his comrade.

“Sam (Mendes) sent me a photo, a still from the shoot, where they’re crossing the Abbey Road crosswalk, and Paul’s character is noticeably smaller. I texted him: ‘Sam! Smaller? Don’t do that! You said you wouldn’t…“

McCartney does not discover the problem. In 2009, he had already expressed his annoyance to Sam Taylor-Johnson, the director of Nowhere Boyin which Aaron Taylor-Johnson played a young John Lennon and Thomas Brodie-Sangster played Paul McCartney. Here again, Lennon’s interpreter was taller than McCartney’s, giving the former a heroic stature that the musician considered historically false.

“The character of John, played by Aaron, is taller than me in the film. My character is a bit weak. Smaller than John. John puts me down. And I was like, Sam, that’s not true! The director then replied, with an explanation that McCartney never really accepted: “It’s a film, it’s not a documentary.” Not enough to calm the composer of the four boys in the wind: “I don’t like this explanation. Here I am, little Paul. John, the great hero. And it’s: no! This is not true.“

For the four Sam Mendes films, which will also bring together Joseph Quinn in the role of George Harrison and Barry Keoghan in that of Ringo Starr, McCartney therefore hopes that history will not repeat itself. Even if the casting has already been decided, the musician intends to ensure that a detail is respected which, in his eyes, affects the way in which the Beatles will be represented on screen.

The four films of The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event will be released simultaneously on April 7, 2028 in theaters.