Barcelona has this strange love affair with major Hollywood productions that, every so often, decide our streets are the best possible setting for time travel. If we recently saw the city transformed for various dystopias or historical dramas, now it’s music with a capital M’s turn. This isn’t just any film shoot: it’s Sam Mendes’ ambitious project , in which he has taken on the titanic task of directing four films simultaneously—one for each member of the Beatles—to tell the story of the band that changed the world.
What has put us on high alert isn’t just the technical spectacle of seeing Paul Mescal (McCartney) or Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr) strolling through Poblenou, but the opportunity for you yourself to end up in the movie.
The production company has set its sights on the magical Montjuïc mountain to shoot one of the most spectacular sequences of the tetralogy: the recreation of a massive concert that promises to take us back to the aesthetic of the 1960s.
The cast for a trip back to the 1960s
Although the Beatles only set foot in Barcelona once (that legendary and somewhat eventful concert at the Plaza de Toros Monumental in 1965), Mendes’s film prefers the open space of Montjuïc to simulate the massive stadiums the band filled on their American tours. To make the scene believable, we need a crowd that radiates that “Beatlemania” energy, and this is where the massive casting call currently being organized for May and June comes in.
The agency in charge is looking for men and women between the ages of 18 and 60 who fit a very specific aesthetic and, above all, look “natural.” The main requirement is to avoid any obvious signs of modernity: no visible tattoos on the arms or neck, and no overly contemporary haircuts or very pronounced layers. They are looking for people with somewhat long hair or neutral styles who could pass for young people from six decades ago. For the scenes to be shot in Salou, the profile focuses on women between the ages of 18 and 35 to set the mood for summer sequences.
From U.S. stadiums to the Olympic Stadium
While the exact logistics are being kept under wraps with the usual secrecy of these blockbusters, everything points to the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium or its immediate surroundings being chosen for this journey through time. The idea is to capture that iconic image of thousands of fans screaming in front of a stage, a scene that is already part of the visual history of the 20th century. Filming won’t be limited to the mountains; cameras will also be seen in L’Hospitalet, Badalona, and Poblenou, searching for those industrial or urban corners that could pass for Liverpool or London of that era.
For those who don’t make the cut for the extras casting, there will always be the national pastime of trying to spot the stars on the city streets. Seeing Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), Joseph Quinn (George Harrison), or Harris Dickinson (John Lennon) having coffee near the beach will likely be the favorite pastime of Barcelona residents this coming May. The four films are scheduled for their world premiere in 2028, but the summer of 2026 will undoubtedly be the moment when Barcelona once again becomes the fifth Beatle.
