This is also an unusual project due to the separation of the biopics into four movies, following each of the members, made and release at the same time. Most band biopics are single movies that follow the most interesting member, or the entire band, which creates the problem of either being entirely unfocused or incredibly biased.  

While there have been Beatles biopics before they have all been, in two words, not great. They range from pretty good portraits of a teenage John Lennon, to abysmal tv movies with insane casting and ridiculous wigs. The direct involvement of the Beatles, their families and an access to a studio budget, will set this biopic apart from the rest. However, a biopic is not necessarily better when the interested parties are consulted. For example, the movie Bohemian Rhapsody had the direct involvement of both Brian May and Roger Taylor and yet is widely regarded to be subpar. But just because the involvement of a person in a film cannot be its saving grace, a film made with the consultation of the person it’s about is usually better than others.

The Beatles have been having ‘a bit of a moment’ recently. Arguably they have been ‘having a moment’ since 1964, but specifically in the last few years they have been releasing a lot of new content. In 2021 the three-part, 8 hour long, absolute feat of documentary film making, Get Back came out. Side note, if you like the Beatles, music history, the creative process or even just documentary filmmaking, you must watch Get Back. It is an absolute marvel both technologically, in terms of the actual restoration of footage/audio, and the way that the four Beatles + George Martin and Billy Preston work together is incredible to watch. Last year the ‘last Beatles song, ’ Now and Then, was released, after being written and recorded by John in the 70’s, worked on by the others in the 90’s and then refined by the technology that Peter Jackson developed for ‘Get Back.’ It was the perfect time for the biopics to be announced.

Biopics have a reputation as cynical, Oscar bait cash grabs, designed to get people who vaguely like the subject to buy a movie ticket. This is not entirely undeserved. A biopic will have people who want to watch it built in, independent of its cast or director. This should be taken advantage of in order to cast actors who have a lot of talent but not a lot of star power. Unfortunately, it is not. For example, Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, was cast almost entirely in order to attract the largest audience, as the group of people who would go only for Bob Dylan and those who would only go for Timothée Chalamet are essentially mutually exclusive. In my opinion, these biopics are a perfect time to get some more unknown actors, for two reasons firstly, the Beatles are still popular enough that if they cast a bunch of nobodies, people will still go see the film. Secondly, there will be one movie focusing on each member. Therefore if one or two Beatles are played by lesser known actors but the others are knockout stars, there will still be significantly different demand for the movies based on the actors.