Sir Paul McCartney has revealed his biggest issue about the new Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes.
The legendary musician appeared on the podcast Good Hang with Amy Poehler and told the comedian that he has an issue with being played by Paul Mescal in the upcoming films.
“He’s smaller than the guy who plays John [Lennon],” McCartney said, tongue in cheek.
The Beatles frontman explained he, John Lennon and George Harrison were “the same height”, while Ringo Starr “was a bit smaller”.
“I said, ‘Sam, I’ve got just one thing that I need to say to you – Paul’s a bit smaller…’,” he recalled.
“So, I don’t know how Sam’s going to deal with it, but he sent me a picture, a still from what the filming they were doing, and they’re crossing the Abbey Road crossing.
“And the Paul actor is markedly smaller … So I texted him, ‘Sam! Smaller! Don’t do this, you said you wouldn’t do it’.
“He said, ‘No, it’s okay, it’s just a stride pattern’ and he sent me another one where they were equal.”
This isn’t the first time an actor playing McCartney is smaller than his Beatles counterparts on film, which is why he has strong opinions on it.
Nowhere Boy, the 2009 movie directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson about John Lennon’s adolescent years featured Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Lennon and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as McCartney.
“The John character – who she later married, Aaron – he’s bigger than me in the film,” McCartney said.
“My character is kind of wimpy, smaller than John. John knocks me to the floor and it’s like, ‘Sam, this is not true!’
“And her only explanation, bless her, ’cause she’s still a good friend, she said, ‘this is a movie, it’s not a documentary’.
“I thought, ‘well I don’t like that explanation’, but I couldn’t do anything because by now she’d made the film.
“There was I, little Paul, and John the great big hero.”
Mendes is directing four separate films about The Fab Four which is set for release next year.
Image: Good Hang with Amy Poehler YouTube
