Seriously interesting news via an interview with “Conclave” screenwriter Peter Straughan. He confirms that he’s writing the George Harrison film for Sam Mendes’ Beatles project. It sounds like each of the four biopics will have a different screenwriter.
I’m doing a biopic with Sam Mendes. Sam’s doing four Beatles biopics, and I’m doing George Harrison […] We’re being firewalled off from each other, and Sam is in the middle. I don’t really think any of us know exactly how it’s going to work. I think the idea is that, because we’ve been isolated, we will tell the story in four very different ways from the point of view of our characters.
Straughan goes on to compare the project to “Rashomon,” pointing out that there might be “certain famous scenes from their lives,” but from a different point of view. He goes on to say that he initially wanted to write John Lennon’s story, but that it had been taken already which had him settle with George.
As for other writers, Krsyty Wilson Cairns (“1917”) is definitely involved to pen one of the films. If that name rings a bell, it’s because Cairns was mentioned many months back as the screenwriter Denis Villeneuve hired to write his still-in-development “Cleopatra.”
Mendes recently stated that he was going to be busy making these four Beatles movies until “mid-2028.” He’s also mentioned how all four chapters might get theatrically released on the same day. Production List recently had a listing that set up a July 2025 shoot in London. No official casting has been announced yet.