Paul McCartney’s main issue with being played by Paul Mescal in new Beatles biopics
Updated . First published
Sir Paul McCartney is letting it be known he has an issue with being played by Paul Mescal in the upcoming Beatles biopics.
The legendary musician opened up about his bug bear on the podcast Good Hang with Amy Poehler, telling the comedian about his message to director Sam Mendes.
Sir Paul McCartney opened up to Amy Poehler about his main issue with Paul Mescal playing him in the upcoming Beatles biopics and the message he sent director Sam Mendes. YouTube/Good Hang with Amy Poehler
“He’s smaller than the guy who plays John [Lennon],” McCartney said, tongue in cheek.
The Beatles frontman explained he, John Lennon and George Harrison were “the same height”, while Ringo Starr “was a bit smaller”.
“I said, ‘Sam, I’ve got just one thing that I need to say to you - Paul’s a bit smaller…’,” he recalled.
"So, I don't know how Sam's going to deal with it, but he sent me a picture, a still from what the filming they were doing, and they're crossing the Abbey Road crossing.
Paul Mescal is shorter than his fellow co-stars in the movie, which is a bug bear of the legendary musician. Sony Pictures
L-R: Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr) and Joseph Quinn (George Harrison) have been cast in the upcoming The Beatles biopics. Sony Pictures
"And the Paul actor is markedly smaller … So I texted him, 'Sam! Smaller! Don't do this, you said you wouldn't do it'.
“He said, ‘No, it’s okay, it’s just a stride pattern’ and he sent me another one where they were equal.”
This isn’t the first time McCartney’s been outsized by his Beatles counterparts on film, which is why he feels so strongly about it.
Nowhere Boy, the 2009 movie directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson about John Lennon’s adolescent years, featured Aaron Taylor-Johnson – now Sam’s husband – as Lennon and the much smaller actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster as McCartney.
“The John character – who she later married, Aaron – he’s bigger than me in the film,” McCartney said.
“My character is kind of wimpy, smaller than John. John knocks me to the floor and it’s like, ‘Sam, this is not true!’
“And her only explanation, bless her, ’cause she’s still a good friend, she said, ‘this is a movie, it’s not a documentary’.
But this isn’t the first time McCartney’s been outsized by his Beatles counterparts on film, which is why he feels so strongly about it. Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Aaron Taylor-Johnson (left) as John Lennon and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (right) as Paul McCartney in Nowhere Boy Icon Film
“I thought, ‘well I don’t like that explanation’, but I couldn’t do anything because by now she’d made the film.
“There was I, little Paul, and John the great big hero.”
Mendes is making four separate films about The Fab Four, releasing them simultaneously next year.
