One day after reports claimed Sam Mendes cast Saoirse Ronan to play Paul McCartney’s wife Linda McCartney in his upcoming Beatles films, a new report claims the director has also found the actress to play Ringo Starr’s wife.
According to Variety, British actress Mia McKenna-Bruce has been cast to play Ringo’s first wife, Maureen Starkey (Ringo’s birth name is Richard Starkey), in The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event. Ringo will be played by Saltburn star Barry Keoghan.
The 28-year-old McKenna-Bruce starred in the 2023 film How to Have Sex, which earned her a BAFTA Rising Star Award, as well as a British Independent Film Award. She also appeared in the Peacock series Vampire Academy.
Mendes’ four Beatles films are scheduled to hit theaters in April 2028, with each one told from the point of view of a different band member. In addition to Keoghan, they will star Paul Mescal as McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
Ringo married Maureen, a hairdresser who he met when she was 16, in 1965. The couple had three children — Zak Starkey, Jason Starkey and Lee Starkey — before divorcing in 1975. Maureen passed away from cancer in December 1994 at age 48.
Ringo went on to marry actress Barbara Bach in 1981, after meeting on the set of the 1980 movie Caveman.
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