The writer is author of ‘John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs’
On Monday, the Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes took to a stage in Las Vegas to announce plans for a music biopic that will not see the light of day for three years. Had it been about almost any other act, it’s likely that this news would have gone unheralded beyond Mendes’ immediate audience of movie industry insiders. What happened in Vegas would have stayed in Vegas. But this wasn’t any other act — it was The Beatles. The coverage, therefore, has been feverish and unavoidable.
Opinions have been aired, questions hotly asked. Four movies, one for each member of the group — how is that going to work, exactly? Will they tell the whole story or just part of it? Is Paul Mescal pretty enough to be the young Paul McCartney? Who will play Yoko?