Ben Schwartz has joined the cast of “The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event.”
Schwartz will play New York disc jockey Murray the K. The Beatles famously welcomed Murray into their tight circle during their first trip to the US in the 1960s.
He joins an ensemble that includes Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harrison Dickinson as John Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison. The cast also boasts Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, Aimee Lou Wood and Mia McKenna-Bruce, who are playing Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono, Pattie Boyd and Maureen Starkey, respectively. Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “American Beauty” and “1917,” directs.
Harry Lloyd is playing the Beatles’ long-time music producer George Martin, while the previously reported addition of James Norton as their manager Brian Epstein has also been confirmed.
The band’s inner circle includes David Morrissey as Paul McCartney’s father Jim McCartney, Leanne Best as John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi, Bobby Schofield as road manager and trusted confidant Neil Aspinall, Daniel Hoffmann-Gill as roadie Mal Evans, Arthur Darvill as press officer and friend Derek Taylor and Adam Pally as controversial music manager Allen Klein.
Each film will center on a different member of the Beatles’ point of view, intersecting to capture the band’s improbable journey from Liverpool to the center of global culture, culminating in their 1970 breakup. This marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and the Beatles have granted full life-story and music rights for a scripted film.
Schwartz appeared on “Parks and Recreation” and starred in “Everybody’s Fine,” “The Other Guys,” and “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” He will reprise the titular role of Sonic in “Sonic the Hedgehog 4,” in theaters March 14, 2027. He is currently working on the TV adaptation of “The Earliest Show” for Amplify Pictures where he will direct, write and star in all episodes. Schwartz will next be seen in the Cameron Diaz Netflix comedy “Bad Day.”
The Beatles movies are currently shooting in the U.K. under Sony and Mendes’ Neal Street Productions banner. Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne wrote the scripts, with Mendes directing all four films and producing alongside his Neal Street partner Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor. Alexandra Derbyshire is also producing.
Sony Pictures will finance and distribute all four films worldwide with full theatrical windows in April 2028.
Schwartz is repped by Haven Entertainment, CAA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.