{"id":802149,"date":"2026-10-14T08:50:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/802149\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T08:50:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:50:23","slug":"paul-mccartney-reveals-his-main-issue-with-sam-mendes-beatles-biopic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/802149\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul McCartney reveals his main issue with Sam Mendes\u2019 Beatles biopic"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Paul McCartney is worried about getting the short end of the stick with the upcoming Beatles films<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Director Sam Mendes\u2019s highly anticipated four-part biopic of the iconic British band \u2014 one for each member <\/a>\u2014is slated for an April 2028 release. The movies will star Paul Mescal, Harris Dickinson, Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan as McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, respectively.<\/p>\n

McCartney, 84, has shown his support <\/a>for the project and granted full music rights for the films \u2014 but he recently admitted on Amy Poehler\u2019s Good Hang podcast <\/a>that he has a \u201cthing\u201d about how his height is shown in Beatles movies.<\/p>\n

The legendary singer-songwriter told Poehler during Tuesday\u2019s episode that although he was the same height as Lennon and Harrison, with Starr slightly shorter, he has been portrayed in several adaptations of the band as being shorter than his bandmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd guess what? [Mescal] is smaller than the guy who plays John,\u201d McCartney said on the podcast, prompting Poehler and her producers to burst into laugher. \u201cI said, \u2018Sam, I\u2019ve got just one thing that I need to say to you. Paul\u2019s a bit smaller.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul McCartney has signed off on the Beatles biopics \u2014 but he is hung up on one specific detail (Good Hang with Amy Poehler)<\/p>\n

Mescal is five feet and 11 inches tall, while Dickinson is six feet and two inches tall. \u201cI don\u2019t know how Sam\u2019s going to deal with it,\u201d McCartney quipped.<\/p>\n

He went on to say that Mendes had sent him a still from set on the day that the four actors were crossing Abbey Road to recreate the Beatles\u2019 iconic album cover<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McCartney noted: \u201cAnd the Paul character is markedly smaller.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you can\u2019t put lifts on bare feet,\u201d Poehler added.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Mescal is playing McCartney in Sam Mendes\u2019 biopic (PA)<\/p>\n

The Wings frontman<\/a> said that his concerns about his height first came about when he was watching Sam Taylor-Johnson\u2019s 2009 film Nowhere Boy. In the movie, Lennon is played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (five feet and 11 inches tall), while McCartney was portrayed by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who is five feet and ten inches tall.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy character is kind of wimpy, smaller than John,\u201d McCartney recalled. \u201cJohn knocks me to the floor. I was like, \u2018Sam, this is not true.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd her only explanation \u2014 bless her, because she\u2019s still a good friend \u2014 she said, \u2018This is a movie, not a documentary,\u2019\u201d he recalled, adding that he was not happy with that excuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought hmm… well I don\u2019t like that explanation,\u201d McCartney said. \u201cBut I couldn\u2019t do anything because by now she had made the film. There was I, little Paul. John, the great big hero. I was like no, it\u2019s not true!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-802149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}