Four long-haired men in 1960s-style outfits — one in a white suit, one in black, one in a navy suit barefoot, one in denim — walk across the Abbey Road zebra crossing.
Backgrid
TV + Movies

Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn, and Harris Dickinson Just Recreated the Beatles’ Abbey Road Crossing for Sam Mendes’ Biopics

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Nearly 60 years after the Beatles shot the most famous crosswalk photo in music history, four of the biggest names in film walked it again. This time it’s for a $movie project so big it’s splitting the band’s story into four separate films.

The four leads are playing the Beatles in order of the original 1969 shot: Harris Dickinson leads as John Lennon in a white suit, followed by Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.

Close overhead view of four men on the Abbey Road crosswalk; the lead man wears a white suit with round glasses, one behind him is barefoot.
A closer overhead angle catches Mescal mid-stride in his white suit and round glasses as Keoghan, Quinn, and Dickinson follow close behind on the Abbey Road crossing during the August 2026 shoot. Photo by Backgrid.

Sam Mendes is directing all four films, officially titled The Beatles – A Four Film Cinematic Event. Each one tells the story from a single member’s perspective, and all four are set to hit theaters at once on April 7, 2028, billed as the first bingeable theatrical experience.

The Abbey Road scene used around 80 extras and vintage vehicles, and also covered the courtyard outside the studios. Westminster Council had reportedly blocked the crossing shoot over traffic and tourist disruption before permission came through with road closures and bus diversions.

Four men walk across the Abbey Road zebra crossing; the man in front wears a white suit, the others in dark suits and a denim jacket.
Shot from above, Paul Mescal (white suit, front) leads Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn, and Harris Dickinson across the Abbey Road zebra crossing on August 16, 2026, while filming Sam Mendes’ Beatles biopics. Photo by Backgrid.

It’s the first time Apple Corps and the Beatles have granted full life-story and music rights for a scripted film. McCartney and Ringo Starr both gave the project their blessing, and McCartney has called Mescal “very cute.”

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Nadia Santiago

Nadia Santiago is a writer who lives between the clouds and the coastline, and writes about all the things your heart knows but your mouth can never quite say.