Fast-rising British star Mia McKenna-Bruce has landed herself a role in one of the buzziest and most talked-about upcoming film series.
The 28-year-old, who broke out as the lead in 2023 Cannes hit “How to Have Sex” and won the BAFTA Rising Star award last year, is joining Sony Pictures’ Sam Mendes-directed all-star quartet of biopics about The Beatles, now in prep with shooting set to begin soon.
As had been rumoured but now confirmed by Variety, McKenna-Bruce is set play Maureen Starkey, the first wife of Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr. Barry Keoghan is playing Starr, while his mop-topped bandmates include Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Harris Dickinson (John Lennon) and Joseph Quinn (George Harrison). News broke earlier this week that Saoirse Ronan was to play Linda McCartney. Sony declined to comment on the McKenna-Bruce casting.
Starkey was a hairdresser from Liverpool who first met Starr at the famed Cavern Club. The two married in 1965 but divorced a decade later. She passed away in 1994.
The much-discussed features — officially titled “The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event” — are being directed back-to-back by Mendes, with a trio of award-winning writers — Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne — penning the scripts. Production is set to start soon and is expected to carry on into late 2026, with Sony releasing all four movies simultaneously in April 2028.
“Each man has his own story, but together they are legendary,” reads the logline for the films, which Mendes said would be the “first binge-able theatrical experience” at Sony’s CinemaCon presentation earlier this year.
The films are a collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Mendes’ Neal Street Productions, and will be produced by Mendes, Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor of Neal Street, as well as Alexandra Derbyshire, in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures.
McKenna-Bruce has a busy slate ahead. She has a lead role in Claire Denis’ Toronto-bowing “The Fence” alongside Matt Dillon and Isaach de Bankolé. Meanwhile, there’s Netflix upcoming Agatha Christie retelling “The Seven Dials Mystery,” in which she plays an unlikely young sleuth and leads a cast including Helena Bonham Carter, Martin Freeman and Edward Bluemel. Also on the horizon is the ITV/BritBox four-part series “The Lady,” which will see McKenna-Bruce play Jane Andrews, the former royal dresser who was convicted of murder alongside Natalie Dormer and Ed Speleers.
The Insneider first reported on McKenna-Bruce being eyed for The Beatles movies.