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Making four separate films about the Beatles was always going to be an ambitious venture – but shooting summer scenes on an English beach in November requires a special kind of optimism.
Yet Sam Mendes found some late autumn sun on Camber Sands in East Sussex last week to recreate a classic shot of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison larking around in Edwardian-inspired striped swimwear.
The originals were taken in July 1963 when the band, fresh from their first No1 with Please Please Me, took on a week’s residency at the Weston-super-Mare Odeon as part of a UK tour.
Paul Mescal – who famously bared his thighs in tiny sports shorts in his breakout role in the BBC’s Normal People – again bared his legs to play a 20-year-old McCartney.
Running barefoot across the sand, he was joined by his co-stars Harris Dickinson as Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Starr and Joseph Quinn as Harrison.
Despite the chilly conditions, they laughed, splashed through the water and grappled beside striped deckchairs and a beach umbrella as they recreated the images originally shot by one of their favourite photographers, Dezo Hoffmann, on the Somerset resort’s Brean Down beach.
Filming for Sir Sam Mendes's Beatles biopics brought Beatlemania back to the seaside as Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Joseph Quinn (L-R) were seen at Camber Sands
The original pictures of the band were taken while The Beatles were appearing twice nightly at the Odeon as part of their UK tour
The faux Fab Four even paddled in the sea – and at one point, between filming their scenes, were seen laughing and messing around on the back of a distinctly modern quad bike.
Director Mendes was also on location overseeing the production.
The scenes are the latest to be filmed for the epic biopic which will trace the stratospheric rise of the band.
The cast have already been seen recreating the iconic cover of Abbey Road, walking across the zebra crossing outside the eponymous studios in north-west London.
Filming also took place recently at Marylebone Station.
The original 1963 pictures, taken while the Beatles were on tour with Gerry And The Pacemakers, were designed to appeal to US music fans.
Their fame across the Atlantic took off the following year, thanks to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
All four films will be released at once in April 2028. Sir Sam has described it as the first ‘bingeable’ cinema experience.
The women in the Beatles' lives at the time will be played by Saoirse Ronan, Aimee Lou Wood, Mia McKenna-Bruce and Anna Sawai.
He became famed for his thighs after wearing tiny sports shorts in his breakout role in the BBC hit, Normal People. And Paul Mescal is back baring leg again but this time as Paul McCartney
Mescal braved the sea with Dickinson
Barry, 34, was also dressed in red and white
The actors, who play Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison respectively, were filming at Camber Sands, which stood in for the Somerset resort
Running barefoot across the sand and through the shallows, the quartet wore brightly striped Sixties-style beachwear (pictured Mescal and Dickinson as McCartney and Lennon)
Keoghan fuelled up on coffee in-between takes
Despite the chilly conditions, they laughed, splashed through the water and grappled beside striped deckchairs and a beach umbrella
Mescal and Dickinson larked around in the sand
Quinn, 30, wore a green-and-orange striped jumper with blue trousers as the Fab Four recreated the scenes
The four were later driven across the beach on a green quad bike
They were seen laughing and messing around on the back of the distinctly modern quad bike
The group didn't seem to mind the cold November weather
Sir Sam was also seen on location overseeing filming for the ambitious project, which will tell the band’s story across four movies – one from the perspective of each member
The Beatles ride donkeys on a beach in Weston-super-Mare before a concert, 22nd July 1963
Original concert handbill advertising The Beatles at the Odeon Cinema in Weston-super-Mare
English (US) ·