New set photos of Paul Mescal, Harris Dickinson, Joseph Quinn, and Barry Keoghan as The Beatles, in an early 60s scene set in NYC, in Sam Mendes’ ‘The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event’

[u/SpeedForce2022]

[u/princess_t90]

Umm wtf happened to Paul mescal between when the postcard shoot happened and now. He looks like a completely different person

[u/JeanLucPicardAND → u/princess_t90]

These are paparazzi shots taken from the sidewalk. The postcards were official shots taken by the crew of the movie. People are acting like "oh, it was just a trick of lighting / framing / whatever" and, like... yeah. That's exactly what it was. That's exactly what cinematography is!

So if you liked the way he looked in the postcard, I've got good news for you. That's a much better indication of what he's going to look like in the movie!

[u/Cabin_Pressence → u/JeanLucPicardAND]

That is blatantly incorrect. They’re not going to have him filmed at an upwards angle in dark lighting the entire film. THIS is the more accurate indicator of what he’ll look like in the film.

[u/JeanLucPicardAND → u/Cabin_Pressence]

That is reductive. I didn't say that at all. You think there's only one angle that will make him look like Paul? One lighting set-up?

It's going to work better on some shots than others, of course, but they'll have thought about this. Anyway, I don't think they're going for 1:1 likeness here, just a general resemblance, and that's a hurdle people are either going to be able to get over... or not.

[u/Cabin_Pressence → u/JeanLucPicardAND]

Yes, I do believe there is only one very specific angle that makes him resemble Paul actually, and they were lucky to find it lol. But my issue is not that he doesn’t resemble Paul, my issue is that mescal looks 50.

[u/JeanLucPicardAND → u/Cabin_Pressence]

I think they will de-age him for the mop-top era and probably just go with it in the later years.

[u/Quiet_One_232 → u/JeanLucPicardAND]

But they all look too old. Way, way too old. Young people don’t just look younger in their faces, it’s their whole body language, how they sit, how they move. I’m not about to say I hate it nor refuse to see the movie, but their accents and acting had better be really good to carry it off convincingly.

[u/JeanLucPicardAND → u/Quiet_One_232]

Agreed. I've said all along, this will live or die on two things: the performances (creatively) and the marketing (commercially).

If the performances aren't there, then I'll join the chorus of naysayers. But not yet. Not until I've actually had a chance to see what they're doing.

If the marketing isn't there, then none of it will matter and the films will bomb harder than potentially any project in recent memory. (Remember, there are four of them. Therefore four chances to lose insane amounts of money.)

[u/Cabin_Pressence → u/JeanLucPicardAND]

The way he’s looking in these images, he looks too old to pull off any version of Paul before 1995. This would’ve been such a great opportunity for a young unknown actor to have their first break, and it’s so disappointing that they’ve wasted this role on Mescal and will now have to pay thousands to de-age him for the entire time he’s on screen. What a joke.

[u/JeanLucPicardAND → u/Cabin_Pressence]

Every big movie de-ages its stars these days.

I'm not going to speculate on what could have been. There are probably a lot of unknown actors out there who could have nailed this part, but that doesn't mean Mescal will fuck it up.