Gladiator 2 star Paul Mescal has been ordered to follow an unusual training regime as he prepares to play Sir Paul McCartney in the new Beatles biopics.
The 29-year-old Irish actor beefed up for his Hollywood breakthrough but has now been told to lose muscle and put on some fat for his role as the legendary singer and bass player.
The story was reported by The Sun, with the headline 'Lard Day's Night' inspired by the famous Beatles hit. An insider said: "Obviously there weren't really gyms around in the Sixties. The Beatles weren't dead-lifting between gigs.
"Macca was always pretty lean and flexible – he has always been really into yoga – but this is a very different aesthetic to that of a burly gladiator, and Paul has been keeping his body pretty ripped, even after filming stopped.
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"Sir Paul McCartney is also famously a vegetarian, whereas Paul mainly lives on a high protein steak, chicken and eggs diet. There also weren't whey protein shakes back in the Beatles' day."
Mescal found fame in 2020 playing Connell Waldron in the BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney's novel Normal People. He hired an ex-Royal Navy personal trainer to play Lucius Verus Aurelius, the exiled Prince of Rome, putting on 22lbs in muscle by training six days a week.
However, he dismissed the fanfare around his new beefcake physique. "With films like this and superhero films, there is sometimes a focus on that, which I don't find that interesting," he said. "Of course there’s a physical robustness required for the character, but past that, I'm not interested."
He added: "This guy's got to fight and got to be a beast. And whatever that looks and feels like is right for me, is what it's going to be.
Earlier this week, the cast of the Sam Mendes-directed Fab Four biopics were announced. Barry Keoghan will play Ringo Starr, Harris Dickinson will be John Lennon and Joseph Quinn is George Harrison. There will be four films, one from each Beatle's perspective, with all to be released in April 2028.
One fan expressed their dismay at Mescal having to lose his muscles, saying: "We just got super-jacked Paul and now they're turning him back into Normal People Paul? This is a crime."
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