What Ringo Starr Really Thinks About Barry Keoghan Playing Him In Beatles Biopic

Since Barry Keoghan and the rest of the Beatles biopic cast were announced, fans have questioned whether they will live up to the iconic stature of the original band members. In 2024, Sam Mendes set out on the difficult task of bringing the Beatles' epic story to life through four separate biopics, each focusing on a different member of the world-famous band. The "Skyfall" director picked the four young, popular British and Irish actors of the moment to play them, with Keoghan selected to portray beloved drummer Ringo Starr. The BBC reported in 2024 that the former Beatle fully approved of the upcoming biopic, but the iconic star from the '60s, who's still working today, has since elaborated on his feelings.

In July 2026, Starr enthusiastically told TMZ, "He's such a fine actor, I think I'm in good hands." The musician's public approval came after personally meeting with Keoghan twice. "He came to the house for a couple of hours one day, and we just hung out like real people," Starr confirmed. "And he took away whatever he took away." Paul McCartney, a longtime friend of Ringo Starr and the only other remaining Beatle, similarly approved of fellow Irish actor, and Oscar nominee, Paul Mescal to play him onscreen. As the Grammy winner reasoned simply to the BBC, in a May 2026 interview, "It was amazing how studied and how well-educated he was about me. So, yeah, I thought, OK, I'll leave you to it."

Ringo Starr may be a fan of Barry Keoghan, but he wasn't completely sold on the plan for his biopic — at least at first anyway. In 2025, the former Beatle admitted to The New York Times that he actually requested some changes to be made to the script to make it more accurate. "[Sam Mendes] had a writer — very good writer, great reputation, and he wrote it great, but it had nothing to do with Maureen and I," Starr explained, referring to his former wife Maureen Starkey Tigrett. "That's not how we were. I'd say, 'We would never do that.'" However, the iconic drummer clarified to Uncut magazine the following year that his views on the movie changed over time. "The first couple of weeks, I was stuck in documentary mode. 'Well, that didn't happen then and he wasn't there,'" Starr acknowledged. 

But, "In the end, actually speaking to Paul, we're both like, 'What's that? OK, it's a movie. It's not a documentary. Let's relax behind it.'" Notably, Tigrett is played by Mia McKenna-Bruce, another rising UK star. She met the former Beatle in 1963 during the group's meteoric rise, and they married in 1965. However, the couple ultimately divorced in 1975 after both parties had an affair (Tigrett's, infamously, was with his bandmate George Harrison). Despite their rocky relationship, Ringo Starr had two sons and a daughter with his first wife. All three children followed in the drummer's footsteps as musicians.