Paul McCartney hails “very cute” Paul Mescal ahead of Beatles biopics

Paul McCartney has described his new Beatles biopic counterpart Paul Mescal as “very cute”.

Sam Mendes’ upcoming four film series about the Fab Four are slated for a simultaneous release in April 2028, with each film to tell the story of the band from a different member’s point of view.

Currently going by the title The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, they have been written by Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem, Spectre), Peter Straughan (Conclave, Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy) and Jack Thorne (Adolescence, His Dark Materials), and they will star Mescal as McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.

In January, we got the first look at the four leads in character in a series of postcards that were left dotted around the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and many noted Mescal’s resemblance to McCartney when dressed up in the moptop hair and period clothing.

Now, McCartney has had his say on Mescal’s aptness for the role. During his appearance on the last ever episode of The Late Show last week – in which he sang a duet of ‘Hello, Goodbye’ with host Stephen Colbert before switching off the lights for good at the Ed Sullivan Theatre – he was asked who was cuter out of the two of them.

McCartney simply grinned and pointed at himself. “Me,” he said.

After the crowd applauded, McCartney made clear that he was being tongue-in-cheek, adding: “No, he’s very cute, he’s very cute.”

Speaking about the films in January, Mescal said fans would “benefit from knowing as little as possible” about them before watching them. “I think the endeavour is totally singular,” he added. “On a personal level, I’m so thrilled to be working on something at this scale, but also rooted in performance with Sam and great writers.”

He had previously revealed that he would be doing his own singing for the role and had spent time with McCartney to prepare.

The likes of David Morrissey, Leanne Best, Bobby Schofield and James Norton joined the cast at the end of last year. Other actors set to star in the films include Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, Aimee Lou Wood and Mia McKenna-Bruce, who are playing Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono, Pattie Boyd and Maureen Starkey, respectively.

As for McCartney, he releases his new album ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’ on Friday (May 29), a reflective record that includes a nostalgic duet with Ringo Starr. He played ‘Days We Left Behind’ from the LP on Saturday Night Live last week, and has spoken about being unable to tell what songs Bob Dylan played when he recently saw him, why he hates taking selfies and why he is still baffled by “a lot of this influencer stuff”.