The Beatles FIRST LOOK: Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan are seen on set

Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn and Harris Dickinson have given Beatles fans a tantalising first glimpse at their upcoming four-part Beatles anthology in the first images of themselves in character. 

The actors are currently working with director Sir Sam Mendes on four ambitious new films about the pioneering group’s emergence from Liverpool’s vibrant club scene to become the most influential band on the planet. 

While controversy has raged about the principal cast’s suitability – Mescal will play Paul McCartney, with Dickinson starring as the late John Lennon, Quinn as George Harrison and Keoghan as Ringo Starr – first images of them in character suggest the films are in safe hands. 

The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts (LIPA) – co-founded by McCartney in 1996 – has shared postcards of the actors on set, giving fans an opportunity to judge for themselves.  

A first image captures Mescal as a young McCartney, the unmistakable brick walls of Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club visible as he gazes quizzically off-camera. 

The band made a name for themselves as the underground club’s resident band in the early 1960s, and it was here that the late Brian Epstein was encouraged to become their manager after watching them live for the first time, a decision that would change their lives forever. 

A first glimpse of Keoghan as drummer Ringo finds him wearing a black and white spotted shirt and a psychedelic tie with a pair of headphones around his neck as he works in the studio. 

It was a look typified by the percussionist in the late ’60s, notably as they recorded their self-titled double album – referred to by fans as the ‘White Album’ –  in 1968. 

While his hair was styled the same as Ringo’s signature ‘moptop’, the actor also bore  a striking facial resemblance to the drummer. 

Elsewhere, Quinn appears to be shot as a bearded Harrison towards the end of the band’s career, while Dickinson wears the iconic denim jacket and round spectacles favoured by Lennon in 1968. 

LIPA captioned the Instagram post: ‘We’ve been given exclusive postcards promoting the new Beatles movies!  We’ve hidden them around LIPA, and we want students to find them.’

Last year, Sony finally confirmed the cast for its four highly anticipated Beatles films following months of speculation, with all four projects set for release in April 2028. 

White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood will play Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd, while Irish Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan has been cast as Linda McCartney, the muse to many of McCartney’s songs.

Anna Sawai, who has made a name for herself in the US drama series Shogun, will appear as Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono, and British actress Mia McKenna-Bruce will play Maureen Cox, the wife of Ringo.

The Daily Mail revealed that the Beatles biopics will be filmed at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios, with production getting underway in November last year despite earlier reports that plans had been blocked.

While it was previously claimed that Westminster Council would not allow filming at the famous zebra crossing, the council has since confirmed to the Daily Mail that production will be going ahead.

Mendes, who is directing the films, had wanted to recreate the Beatles’ 1969 album cover on the crossing.

Westminster Council told the Daily Mail that they are, in fact, working closely with production teams to facilitate filming, which will involve closing the road.

Speaking at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas last April, an event the cast also attended, Mendes described the films as the ‘first binge-able theatrical experience’.

The project marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd and The Beatles – Sir Paul, Sir Ringo, and the families of Lennon and Harrison – have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.

Ringo previously appeared to let slip that Saltburn star Keoghan had taken on the role.

He told Entertainment Tonight: ‘I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many.’

When Sir Ridley Scott was promoting his second Roman epic Gladiator II, he revealed leading man Mescal was joining the Beatles project, telling an industry event that the actor was ‘actually stacked up, doing the Beatles next’ so he may not be able to join him on his next film.

Keoghan recently admitted that he wasn’t able to look Beatles legend Ringo in the eye during their first meeting because he was so overcome with nerves.

While the actor described their meeting as ‘lovely,’ he told Jimmy Kimmel Live that he was so starstruck he struggled to make eye contact with the drummer.

He recalled: ‘I met him at his house, and he played the drums for me. He asked me to play, but I wasn’t playing the drums for Ringo.’

Asked if he was able to ‘study’ the musician, he added: ‘I was. And 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.”‘ 

Despite being nervous, Barry did stress that Ringo was ‘absolutely lovely’ and that they sat in the garden ‘chatting away’.

‘My job is to observe and kinda taken in mannerisms and study him,’ Barry added. ‘I want to humanise him and bring feelings to it and not just sort of imitate.’