Barry Keoghan to star as Ringo Starr in The Beatles biopic

The Beatles biopic has found its Ringo Starr. British actor Barry Keoghan will be essaying the drummer's role in the upcoming film directed by Sam Mendes. Ringo Starr himself confirmed the same during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “I think it's great. I believe he's somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many," the 84-year-old musician said.

Mendes has planned a four-film series chronicling the legendary band, with each movie told from the perspective of one of the Beatles members.

This will be the first occasion that scripted feature-length films will be made on The Beatles. Many documentaries exist on the famous music band, including the 1970 drama Let It Be and the recent docu-series The Beatles: Get Back.

Mendes will also produce the films alongside his production company, Neal Street Productions' Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor, while The Beatles' company Apple Corps' CEO Jeff Jones will serve as the executive producer. The makers have secured the rights to use the band's music and its members' full life stories for the film from Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, as well as the respective family members of George Harrison and John Lennon.

Apart from Keoghan, the film also reportedly stars Paul Mescal and Joseph Quinn, who were recently seen in key roles in Ridley Scott's Gladiator 2. They are in negotiations to star as Paul McCartney and George Harrison respectively. Harris Dickinson is in talks to play John Lennon. Sony Pictures Entertainment plans to finance and theatrically distribute each of these films in 2027.

Mendes is best known for films like American Beauty (1999), Road to Perdition (2002), Revolutionary Road (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and 1917 (2019).

Apart from receiving widespread acclaim for The Banshees of Inisherin which earned him an Oscar nomination and Saltburn, Keoghan's upcoming slate of films includes Netflix's Peaky Blinders film.