{"id":168409,"date":"2025-12-04T21:34:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/168409\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T21:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:34:08","slug":"pete-bests-niece-cast-as-john-lennons-aunt-mimi-in-beatles-biopics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/168409\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Best’s Niece Cast as John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi in Beatles Biopics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe cast of Sam Mendes\u2019 <\/a>four-part Beatles film<\/a> continues to grow, and in one of the strangest twists, a relative of the Fab Four\u2019s first drummer, Pete Best<\/a>, is set to appear in the film.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBest\u2019s niece, the actress Leanne Best, has been tapped to play<\/a> John Lennon<\/a>\u2019s aunt, Mimi, who raised the young musician after his father left and his mother, Julia, moved in with another man. While Lennon reunited with his mother, Mimi continued to look after him after Julia was killed in a traffic accident when Lennon was a teenager.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMimi was a commanding force, and Lennon later incorporated some of her sayings into the lyrics of \u201cShe\u2019s Leaving Home\u201d<\/a> (\u201cSacrificed most of our lives,\u201d \u201cWe gave her everything money could buy,\u201d \u201cNever a thought for ourselves\u201d). Lennon once jokingly recalled<\/a> how Mimi tried to steer him away from art and music, towards more practical professions, once even telling Lennon: \u201cThe guitar is all right as hobby, John, but you will never make a living at it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for Leanne Best, she\u2019s been working steadily as an actress since the mid-2000s, scoring notable roles in projects like the BBC series Ripper Street and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Her uncle, Pete Best<\/a>, was the original Beatles drummer<\/a>, playing with the group<\/a> from 1960 to 1962, before being dismissed and replaced with Ringo Starr. (Still no word yet on who will play Best in Mendes\u2019 films.) <\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong with Leanne as Aunt Mimi, the latest casting news includes confirmation that James Norton will star as Beatles manager Brian Epstein. David Morrissey will play Paul McCartney\u2019s father, Jim; Bobby Schofield will play road manager Neil Aspinall; Daniel Hoffman-Gill will play the band\u2019s longtime associate and assistant Mal Evans; Arthur Darvill will play journalist-turned-press officer Derek Taylor; and Adam Pally will play Allen Klein, who had a controversial tenure<\/a> as the Beatles<\/a>\u2019 manager right before their break-up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Beatles \u2014 A Four-Film Cinematic Event is currently in production with the movies set to start arriving in theaters in April 2028. Paul Mescal will star<\/a> as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. The film\u2019s leading ladies<\/a> were also recently confirmed, with Saoirse Ronan cast as Linda McCartney, Aimee Lou Wood as Pattie Boyd, Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono, and Mia McKenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey.<\/p>\n