Now that we know Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, and Barry Keoghan will play the foursome of rock legends in Sam Mendes’ The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, it’s time to learn who will play the key women in their lives. Sony Pictures revealed today that Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, Aimee Lou Wood and Mia McKenna-Bruce have joined the cast as the various Beatles wives/muses at the height of the band’s fame.
Mia McKenna-Bruce stars as Maureen (Cox) Starkey, Ringo Starr’s first wife; Saoise Ronan plays Linda (Eastman) McCartney, Paul’s wife; Anna Sawai will be Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s muse and eventual wife; and Aimee Lou Wood plays Pattie Boyd, George Harrison’s wife.
Dickinson, Mescal, Quinn, and Keoghan play Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, respectively. There are other key roles yet to be filled, such as Cynthia Lennon, John’s first wife, and band manager Brian Epstein.
Mendes is doing something really daring with this film. All four movies are expected to open in April 2028, with shooting expected to begin next month. Each film will be shot consecutively and have a different screenwriter. Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan, and Jack Thorne are writing alongside Mendes.
This is the biggest role yet for McKenna-Bruce, who is best known for the acclaimed 2023 drama How to Have Sex. Ronan is a multi-time Oscar nominee, and is fresh from the world premiere of her latest film, Bad Apples, at TIFF. Sawai is currently killing it on two hit shows, Apple’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and Hulu’s Shōgun. Wood is best known for her role in Netflix’s Sex Education, and season 3 of HBO’s The White Lotus.
Mendes said about the casting in a statement: “Maureen, Linda, Yoko and Pattie are four fascinating and unique figures in their own right – and I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to persuade four of the most talented women working in film today to join this amazing adventure.”
