Saoirse Ronan cast as Linda McCartney in upcoming Beatles biopic
Saoirse Ronan has been reportedly cast in the role of Linda McCartney in Sam Mendes’s upcoming series of Beatles biopics.
The upcoming films, which are set to cover the entire length of the Fab Four’s career, are being told as four separate movies chronicling their journey.
Ronan is set to join alongside Paul Mescal, who will be portraying Paul McCartney, according to Deadline. Although most other details remain scant regarding the other cast members, the core members of the group outside of Mescal include Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.
Working primarily as a photographer before meeting McCartney, Linda had been a major name in the music industry, known for photographing artists such as The Doors and The Rolling Stones. After marrying McCartney in 1969, she would then be a key figure in McCartney’s next group, Wings, playing keyboards and serving as backing vocalist.
Many of McCartney’s most famous songs from the Fab Four’s later period also detailed his relationship with Linda. Aside from writing rockers like ‘Birthday’ with her in mind, he would also pen ‘Two of Us’ about their time together, and she would remain one of his muses throughout his solo career, inspiring classics such as ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’, ‘Long Haired Lady’, and ‘My Love’.
Written by Jez Butterworth, Jack Thorne and Peter Straughan, Mendes had talked about his high hopes for delivering such a gargantuan tale. Though the idea of him making this series of films had been in development “for years”, the Oscar-winning director said the format they ended up with was perfect, saying, “There had to be a way to tell the epic story for a new generation. I can assure you there is still plenty left to explore, and I think we found a way to do that.”
None of the love interests of the remaining Beatles have been formally announced yet. However, there have been a few notable names in talks to be connected with the project.
Aside from Ronan, Aimee Lou Wood had been rumoured to be taking on the role of George Harrison’s ex-wife, Patti Boyd, as well as Mia McKenna-Bruce taking on the role of Starr’s first wife, Maureen Starkey. As of yet, there has been no confirmation on whether the two actors are connected to the project.
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