The new Beatles’ biopics spotted filming at London's iconic Abbey Road crossing
North London goes retro
There are many famous walks – the walk of shame, walk the walk (of talking the talk), like an Egyptian, On Sunshine... the list goes on. One that definitely makes the list is The Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road walk across the zebra crossing from 1969. It’s the walk that launched a thousand posters stuck on the bedroom walls of indie teens for 45 years, and now it has been officially recreated by the new fab four in Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles biopics.
Over the weekend, fans were quick to spot Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), and Joseph Quinn (George Harrison) recreate the iconic Abbey Road album cover for The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event. The four were seen in full retro hair and outfits as they recreated the famous album cover moment 57 years after the original.
The quick snippet shows the four actors in London by Abbey Road studios walking across the famous crossing, dressed in familiar outfits that anyone who memorised the album cover will remember – Lennon in a flared white suit, Starr in a wide shouldered black suit and red tie, McCartney walking barefoot in a navy blue suit, and Harrison in a tight double denim combo. This new footage – albeit grainy and fan shot – is another exciting (if brief) look at how the creative teams behind the films are managing the visuals, transforming the quartet into their musical counterparts. All we’ll say about the new looks is that all those long locks are giving us Covid flashbacks.
We’ve only seen very small teases of what the core four look like in their Beatmania transformations so far, with the first official visuals released back in January thanks to a localised marketing campaign in the band’s hometown. Exclusive postcards were distributed at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, an institution co-founded by Sir Paul McCartney himself, which showed a glimpse at the lead actors in character. This most recent footage is the first in action snaps showing the leading men in character whilst filming.
Earlier last year, it was confirmed that Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Mystery star Mia McKenna Bruce would be starring as Starr’s wife, Maureen Starkey. Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, and Aimee Lou Wood have also been confirmed to star, playing Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono, and Pattie Boyd, respectively.
It's an exciting insight into the new films which have already created a serious amount of hype (and skepticism) from fans of both the music and the filmmakers. Given the films' distant release dates of April 2028, you can't really blame the fans for grabbing any glimpse of the upcoming flicks that they can.
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