Barry Keoghan was too nervous to drum in front of Ringo Starr during first meeting: “I couldn’t look at him”
Irish actor Barry Keoghan revealed that he was riddled with nerves when he met Ringo Starr before portraying The Beatles drummer in Sam Mendes’ upcoming biopics.
Mendes announced the highly anticipated forthcoming films at the start of 2024, albeit with a unique twist on the biopic genre. Rather than telling one version of events in a singular movie, the director is set to helm four separate movies that explore the same version of events from the perspective of each member of the Fab Four.
After a year of speculation following the initial announcement, the Oscar-winning director appeared at the annual CinemaCon event in Las Vegas alongside Keoghan, Joseph Quinn, Paul Mescal, and Harris Dickinson, who will play the parts of Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon, respectively.
Now, Keoghan has acknowledged the upcoming role for the first time. “He played the drums for me,” the Irish actor recalled of his first meeting with The Beatles legend during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “He asked me to play, but I wasn’t playing the drums for Ringo.”
Reflecting further, the Saltburn star added: “When I was talking to him, I couldn’t look at him. I was nervous, like right now. But he’s like, ‘You can look at me’. My job is to observe and kinda take in mannerisms and study him. I want to humanise him and bring feelings to it and not just sort of imitate.”
Last November, several months before the official announcement, Starr prematurely confirmed that Keoghan would portray him.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Starr said of Keoghan amid speculation linking him to the role, “Well, I think it’s great. I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many.”
It was recently confirmed that Jez Butterworth, Jack Thorne and Peter Straughan will be on writing duties for the four movies. Butterworth’s credits include Ford vs Ferrari and Spectre, Straughan is an Academy Award-winner responsible for writing Conclave, and Thorne most recently penned the hit Netflix series Adolescence.
The four Beatles biopics are all set to be released in April 2028.
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