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You might have thought it a prerequisite during casting, given they are four of the most famous names on Earth.
But the actress playing Sir Ringo Starr’s first wife in the upcoming Beatles biopics has admitted that she could not identify the Fab Four or name many of their best hits.
Mia McKenna-Bruce, 28, has been cast as Maureen Starkey in the four films, one for each member of the band, due to be released in 2028.
The BAFTA-winner, speaking to February’s Tatler magazine, admitted: ‘We sang Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine at school but it wasn’t my jam.’
Her casting was announced while she was filming an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Seven Dials Mystery with actor Martin Freeman, 54, who teased her over her lack of Beatles knowledge.
She said: ‘[He] was asking me to name all the Beatles. I didn’t know. Then, he’d ask, “What band was Mick Jagger in?” I was like, “I have no idea”.
‘Yet now, I’m like, “Oh, my God, the Beatles are underrated.” It’s music I’d sit and listen to on the train.’ The films star Paul Mescal as Sir Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Sir Ringo.
Maureen wed the Beatles drummer in 1965 and they had three children. They divorced ten years later but he sat by her bed when she died from leukaemia in 1994.
Mother-of-one McKenna-Bruce added: ‘I haven’t met Ringo but apparently, to this day, when he talks about Maureen he gets this brightness behind his eyes.’
The actress also stars alongside Matt Damon in The Fence this year, a film based on Bernard Marie-Koltès’ 1979 play.
Set in West Africa, she plays the role of Leonie, a young wife to Damon’s character Horn, an American construction foreman.
The movie explores the themes of masculinity, race, culture and social divides.
Despite playing spouses of a similar age on screen, there is a 33-year age gap between both actors.
She said: ‘I had no idea what a heartthrob Matt was. When we were in Toronto [for the film’s world premiere, there were screaming women waiting for him. I was like, “Matt, I didn’t realise you were such hot property”. He’s so humble and such a sweetheart.’
The actress also said she was uncertain at first about playing his wife in the drama, given he is the same age as her parents.
She explained: ‘It was a bold choice, but mentally we were in the same place. Like Helena, Matt’s got a really youthful thing going.
‘He said, “Tell me if you ever feel an age gap,” but I never felt that shift.’
Read the full feature in the February issue of Tatler, available via digital download and on newsstands from Thursday, January 8.
