Director Sam Mendes' "The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event" has cast some power women actors for pivotal roles.

Sony Pictures announced Friday, Oct. 31, that "Shogun" star Anna Sawai will play John Lennon's wife Yoko Ono, and "White Lotus" star Aimee Lou Wood will star as George Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, who later married Eric Clapton.

Mia McKenna-Bruce will star as Ringo Starr's first wife, Maureen Starkey (née Cox), and Saoirse Ronan will play Paul McCartney's wife, Linda McCartney (née Eastman).  "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," Mendes said in a statement.

At CinemaCom in April, Mendes announced the stars of these intersecting music biopics: Paul Mescal is playing McCartney, Joseph Quinn will play Harrison, Barry Keoghan will be drumming as Starr, and Harris Dickinson has been cast as Lennon.

"The Beatles changed my understanding of music. Pretty much, they made up my first memories," Mendes said in April. He revealed that all four films – which will be in production for over a year – will come out in April 2028, calling it "the first binge-able theatrical experience."

Here's the brief bios on the real-life characters:

Linda Eastman (Ronan) was a celebrated photographer when she met Paul McCartney in 1967. There was an instant attraction and McCartney later said, "The first time I saw her, I just knew."
John Lennon first met the Japanese artist Yoko Ono (Sawai) at a London exhibition of her work. Although Lennon was married at the time, he was immediately intrigued by Yoko, and the two eventually became inseparable creative partners for the rest of his life.
Pattie Boyd (Wood) was a successful model when in 1964 she met George Harrison on the set of the Beatles movie "A Hard Day’s Night." The two began dating and later married, with Boyd sharing Harrison’s growing interest in Eastern mysticism.
Maureen Cox (Mia McKenna-Bruce) was an early fan of The Beatles who met Ringo Starr at the Cavern Club in 1962. Their romance blossomed quickly. They married in 1965 and had three children together.

Source: Bryan Alexander/usatoday.com

Legendary drummer Ringo Starr reportedly fell on stage during a recent concert.

TMZ reported Starr, 83, took the tumble while he was performing with his "All-Starr Band"at Rio Rancho Events Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico Wednesday night.

The media outlet said Starr tripped while he was singing "Give Peace A Chance" during the show's encore. "But he got right back up and made light of the sitch -- while continuing the show," TMZ reported.

Starr and his band, which is comprised of artists such as Edgar Winter, Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Gregg Bissonette, and Hamish Stuart, just kicked off a fall 2023 tour. With a little help from my friends, we're getting together again. I know we're going to be in a city near you, so peace and love," Starr says in a video he shared on social media. "Hope to see you."

The band was forced to postpone several shows in 2022 because he and a few fellow members tested positive for COVID.  The shows were originally planned for 2020, but were initially postponed due to the pandemic.

Starr, whose real name is Richard Starkey, is a nine-time Grammy Award winner. He and Paul McCartney are the two surviving members of the classic rock band The Beatles.

John Lennon was 40 years old when he was shot and killed outside his New York apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980. George Harrison died at the age of 58 on Nov. 29, 2001 after a long battle with cancer.

Source: JESSICA A. BOTELHO /wgxa.tv

Despite years in the spotlight as The Beatles rose to become one of the most successful rock acts ever, John Lennon once revealed that his post-band period brought him the greatest joy. ‌

However, his son Sean Ono Lennon has now clarified his father's remarks from decades past. After emerging in the 1960s and rapidly achieving global superstardom, The Beatles were considered the world's premier musical phenomenon, though their collaboration essentially concluded in the early 1970s when Paul McCartney departed the group.

As a solo performer residing in America with his wife, Yoko Ono, Lennon performed two shows at Madison Square Garden in 1972 for the "One to One" benefit concerts, which supported children with disabilities.

After those Madison Square Garden performances with his wife, he notably declared, "That Madison Square Garden gig was the best music I enjoyed playing since the Cavern or even Hamburg."

Yet during a conversation with Lennon's son Sean on BBC Radio 6 Music, host Chris Hawkins questioned whether his father's post-Madison Square Garden remarks indicated he "had fallen out of love with music?"

‌Sean responded by suggesting there was "a bit of a myth around that," explaining he believed his dad's statements better reflected John having "fallen out of love with a certain kind of fame."

Elaborating further, he revealed his father's genuine feelings about The Beatles, explaining, "I think he'd fallen out of love with having to be part of the machinery of a pop machine, you know.

"I think that was, even though he was always rebellious within that framework, I think that he still resented, you know, having to be a Beatle in a way. I think he really wanted to move on from that, you know."  ‌

Lennon was often the most critical of The Beatles' endeavors, both in and out of the recording studio, and continuously voiced negative views even after the group called it quits. He wasn't ever shy to throw certain Beatles songs under the bus.

In fact, Lennon wasn't happy with any of The Beatles' songs, it turns out, and once confided in one of the most important figures in the band's life, their producer, George Martin, who was often referred to as the fifth Beatle, about a wild wish he had about their tunes.

Source: Danny Gutmann, Hannah Furnell/irishstar.com

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The Beatles' meteoric rise to fame was nothing short of dramatic. After becoming the biggest band in Liverpool in 1962, they took the UK by storm in 1963, securing their first official number one single with 'From Me to You', followed by their debut album 'Please Please Me' topping the charts after its release in March.

By 1964, they were a global sensation. The Fab Four were in the midst of a 19-date concert residency in Paris on January 25, 1964, when their manager Brian Epstein informed them that they had achieved their first number one in America with 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' topping the US's Cashbox charts.

The song reached number one on the USA's main chart - the Billboard Hot 100 - by February 1 and remained there for seven weeks. At this point, Epstein decided it was time to capitalise on international markets.

Given The Beatles' early success in the clubs of Hamburg, Berlin-based Odeon Records suggested to Epstein and producer George Martin that singing in German would boost record sales in West Germany. Consequently, The Beatles were ushered into the Pathé Marconi studio in Paris on January 29 to sing in a foreign language.

Translations of 'She Loves You' and 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' were provided, but John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison were not particularly enthusiastic about the idea. They would have preferred to stay in their hotel, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Mr Martin recalled in 'The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions' by Mark Lewisohn: "I fixed the session for late morning. Norman Smith, myself, and the translator, a chap named Nicolas, all got to the studio on time, but there was no sign of The Beatles. We waited an hour before I telephoned their suite at the George V hotel.

"Neil Aspinall answered: 'They're in bed; they've decided not to go to the studio'. I went crazy – it was the first time they had refused to do anything for me. 'You tell them they've got to come, otherwise I shall be so angry it isn't true! I'm coming over right now'.

Source: Dan Haygarth/uk.news.yahoo.com

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Speaking with The Guardian earlier this year, John Lennon’s oldest son Julian Lennon said that Beatles projects like Peter Jackson’s Get Back or the newly restored Let It Be are “news to me half the time.” That was also the case with Sam Mendes’ four simultaneous biopics. “Normally I’m kept out of all the Apple and Beatles stuff,” Julian explained in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “Sean [Lennon, his half-brother] and I have a great relationship, but he can’t even talk to me about that stuff legally, which is a little uncomfortable, because he wants to tell me stuff, but he can’t. But Sean got in touch and said, ‘Listen, Sam Mendes wants to get in touch.’ I went, ‘Really? Why?’ I hadn’t even heard of the four new Beatles films. And initially, I just thought to myself, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Another freaking Beatles film? Haven’t we had enough?'” He laughed.

Julian’s interactions with the filmmaker seem to mark a difference from how he’s usually treated by the Beatles’ management. “Sam and I met earlier this year and had lunch. He was an absolute gentleman,” the musician and photographer gushed. Mendes asked him for stories he might remember of the Beatles phenomenon, but Julian admitted he was too young to remember much. “Then he said, ‘The most important thing for me, Jules, is that I want to make sure that your story and your mother’s story are told with absolute clarity and truth, whatever that means.’ And I just said, ‘I truly appreciate that.'”

Source:  Mary Kate Carr/avclub.com

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A Utah woman helped design one of the most famous Beatles album covers of all time: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Jann Haworth was just 24 years old when The Beatles asked her to co-create the iconic cover for their 1967 album.

“We were hearing a few tracks we would go over to Paul’s house and listen to another track,” she recalls casually referring to that Paul McCartney. A few days later, she helped bring to life the concept that became history: a full-size set, surrounded by life-sized cutouts of cultural icons, where The Beatles would stand for their photograph. “The Beatles are wearing uniforms from a different era,” she says. “It’s quite nostalgic if you look at it.” 

Today, that nostalgia lives quietly in her Salt Lake City home — though not quite the way you’d expect. Her Grammy sits on the sofa in shambles, teeth marks and all. “The dog chewed it there,” she laughs. “If it were precious on a shelf — meh.“

More than 50 years later, she views her work with a new perspective. “There are deficits on the cover,” she admits. “Only twelve women, and six are fictional.”

After moving to Utah in the 1990s, Haworth began revisiting those gaps through her life-sized mural art. Her “SLC Pepper” mural near Pioneer Park reimagines the cover with 50 percent women. “Much of the work I have done in Salt Lake is, in some ways, an apology or revisiting of the Sgt. Pepper problems,” she says.

Her work today continues that mission — empowering local artists, students, and entire communities to take part in large-scale public art projects that celebrate inclusion. From community murals to collaborative installations, Haworth brings people together to literally paint a fuller picture, one that reflects everyone’s story.

“If you don’t change as you grow older and wiser and more informed, there’s something wrong.”

Source: Kristen Kenney/kutv.com

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