Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, Barry Keoghan, and Harris Dickinson Recreate the ‘Abbey Road’ Cover for Sam Mendes’ Beatles Films

Fans caught the four actors mid-crosswalk, stepping into one of music’s most famous photographs for Sony’s four-part Beatles event.

Some film shoots are meant to stay hidden until release. This one was never going to. Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, Barry Keoghan, and Harris Dickinson were spotted this week recreating the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover, the exact crosswalk outside London’s EMI Studios where John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison walked in single file on August 8, 1969.

Fans filming from the street caught Mescal as McCartney, Dickinson as Lennon, Quinn as Harrison, and Keoghan as Starr stepping into one of the most reproduced photographs in music history.

The shoot was bigger than it looked on social media. Around 80 extras and a fleet of vintage cars filled the scene, and Westminster Council reportedly blocked the crossing shoot entirely over traffic and tourist disruption before eventually granting permission with road closures in place. Abbey Road remains a functioning street and a tourist attraction in its own right, which made securing the location as much a logistical achievement as a creative one.

The footage comes from Sam Mendes‘ The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, a genuinely unprecedented project: four separate theatrical films, each told from a different band member’s point of view, with interconnected narratives running across all four. It’s also the first time Apple Corps and the Beatles’ estates have granted full life-story and music rights for a scripted film about the band, giving Mendes access to the group’s complete catalog. Both McCartney and Starr have given the project their blessing, and McCartney has reportedly called Mescal “very cute.”

Specific plot details remain under wraps, but the ensemble around the four leads has grown substantial. Saoirse Ronan plays Linda McCartney, Anna Sawai plays Yoko Ono, Aimee Lou Wood plays Pattie Boyd, and Mia McKenna-Bruce plays Maureen Starkey. David Morrissey plays Paul McCartney’s father Jim, Leanne Best plays John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi, James Norton plays manager Brian Epstein, and Harry Lloyd plays producer George Martin. Bobby Schofield, Daniel Hoffman-Gill, Arthur Darvill, and Adam Pally round out the road crew and management side as Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans, Derek Taylor, and Allen Klein, respectively.

Mendes wrote the screenplay alongside Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan, and Jack Thorne, with Greig Fraser behind the camera. He’s previously described the project as an attempt to build “the first binge-able theatrical experience,” telling a room of theater owners at CinemaCon that the film industry needs “big cinematic events to get people out of the house.”

All four films are set to open simultaneously on April 7, 2028.

Joanthan P. Moustakas

Jonathan P. Moustakas founded The Cinema Group in 2020 during the challenges of the pandemic, after losing the vital ability to find community in theaters and escape through the captivating magic of cinema. Feeling profoundly cut off from the vibrant film community he cherished, he sought to create a welcoming home for dedicated cinema fans while providing engaging, daily curated content that resonates with their passions. Years later, The Cinema Group has blossomed from a small collective of loyal fans into a thriving brand that reaches millions of audiences every month across a diverse array of platforms and mediums.

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