Morfydd Clark on playing Cynthia Lennon in new Beatles biopics and her importance to John’s “genius”
Morfydd Clark has spoken to NME about playing Cynthia Lennon in the Sam Mendes Beatles biopics.
Set to be released in April 2028, the four movies will see Paul Mescal play Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan’s Ringo Starr.
Each of the four films will tell the story of the band from a different member’s point of view. The projects mark the first scripted Beatles movies made with the full approval of Apple Corps and the surviving band members, as well as access to the group’s music rights.
The supporting cast also includes Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney, Shōgun‘s Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono, Aimee Lou Wood as Pattie Boyd, Mia McKenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey and Clark as John Lennon’s first wife Cynthia.
WATCH
Speaking to NME recently, Clark said it’s “extremely exciting” to be involved in the project, which is currently still being filmed. “I’m having a wonderful time and I’m very pleased to be part of such an amazing thing.”
To help prepare for the role, Clark has been listening to a lot of ‘60s music as well as reading Cynthia Lennon’s “fascinating” autobiography John, which was published in 2005 and explores her marriage to the Beatle during their globe-trotting rise to become the biggest band in the world, alongside the break-up of their marriage.
“I don’t necessarily believe in the great men of history theory,” said Clark. “There’s always people around them who are making things happen… Learning all about them and about what it takes to allow someone to exhibit genius has been so much fun.”
Before that, Clark features in Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power season three, in which her character Galadriel reunite with Jamie Campbell Bower‘s Celeborn – though Charlie Vickers’ Sauron soon makes things between the estranged couple more difficult. “It’s a love line and I’m a dot that’s trying to scribble it out,” Vickers told NME about TV’s oddest love triangle.
Elsewhere in the interview, Campbell Bower reflected on his guest appearance during Biffy Clyro’s huge Finsbury Park headline gig earlier this summer, where he joined the band for tender ballad ‘Machines’.
“I’ve been a huge fan of Biffy for years. In fact, at one point it was a fact on my IMDb page,” Campbell Bower said. He first met Biffy’s Simon Neil at a party, who told the former Counterfeit frontman that he loved the band’s album ‘Together We Are Stronger’. “Then we played a few festivals tougher in Europe and [Biffy Clyro] were always so nice to me, inviting me back to their dressing room [to hang out] even though I was always a bit of a gibbering wreck.”
Neil and Campbell Bower reconnected earlier this year, which is when the Biffy Clyro vocalist floated the idea of collaborating at Finsbury Park. “I was so terrified by the offer, it took me three months to reply to the email [but performing together] was just the fucking coolest thing ever,” said Campbell Bower.
“I actually want to thank him publicly for reintroducing me to the feeling of something that is so deeply impactful and childlike for me. It’s thanks to him that I will be playing a solo show next year.”
View this post on Instagram
Announced today, Campbell Bower comes to Alexandra Palace Theatre for a special live performance in February 2027. Tickets are on sale now.
‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ season three premieres on Prime Video November 11.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.