Movies’ publicity teams no longer answer to journalists or scathing at-home bloggers — no, they serve the mass of replies under a Pop Crave or Pop Base post on X. I can’t remember the last time I learned about a casting decision in an upcoming film without it being sourced from some kind of pop culture hub account on X or Instagram that either popped up on my feed or was sent to me by my echo chamber of judgy pop culture enthusiasts.

For the past two weeks, I’ve noticed a pattern under these movie casting announcements, regardless of which source it comes from: People feel a lot of different and extreme ways about casting “unknown” actors in potentially culturally significant films. 

Last week, the Beatles were reborn in preparation for the four-film biopic extravaganza that are Sam Mendes’ upcoming films surrounding the Fab Four. When the dust settled, the roles were given out as follows: Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. 

When making not one but four films about the members of what is arguably the most famous musical act in history, any casting decisions will be contentious. That being said, people had plenty to say about the group’s casting decisions, mainly that the four actors were chosen as trendy, attractive faces rather than accurate portrayals of the four famous Beatles.

I understand the urge to fight back on trendy casting. Choosing relatively unknown actors to portray culturally significant people not only shows restraint and integrity on the back end of a film’s production, it also allows for viewers to be immersed in the performance. I don’t want to be thinking about whether or not Daisy Edgar-Jones was on set to cheer on Paul Mescal as I’m watching Paul McCartney form Wings on screen.

Performances like Taron Egerton in “Rocketman” (2019) and Austin Butler in “Elvis” (2022) are beautiful examples of an actor gaining fame thanks to a dedicated performance depicting an icon, with both actors maintaining their momentum following their respective films’ releases. Though I hated “Elvis” and Butler’s inability to leave Presley’s voice behind for months following the film’s release, he had me eating my words in “Dune: Part Two” (2024). 

As a seasoned Beatles fan myself and someone who takes everything in pop culture as if it is happening to me personally, I care about the casting of the Fab Four as much as the next gal. However, I think that the arguments of the cast’s critics are fundamentally weak.

These four actors are certainly trendy. Dickinson is the least famous on the mainstream out of the four, yet he still made his mark recently as the dominant intern in “Babygirl” (2024), while Mescal has popped in and out of the social media zeitgeist at least once a month since joining it with the release of “Normal People” in 2020. 

Quinn, like Dickinson, is less of a known name despite featuring in three major franchises since 2022, and his fame is clearly only going to continue to grow as he takes on the role of Harrison. Keoghan had already established a rapport with the general public with several roles in feature films, especially by starring in “Saltburn” (2023).

Evidently, alongside being trendy, these actors have earned their respective keeps. The four of them have all survived the pressures of playing acclaimed roles and have proved time and time again that they are effective actors, as they continue to disappear into roles rather than define them with their faces. 

The upcoming new-gen Beatles have two Oscar nominations, numerous BAFTA nominations and wins and several British Independent Film Award wins between the four of them. Rather than this solely being a case of using actors for their momentum, I think that the group are bringing more than their fan bases to the table. 

My main concern with the four of them will be the ability to age them down properly, as a key part of the Beatles’ story was their young success, and the cast are already in their late twenties or early thirties. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep a straight face when Keoghan joins the fray as 22-year-old Starr while possibly slipping in and out of a Dublin accent when he’s currently ten years older than Liverpool-born Starr was when he first joined tThe Beatles.

And yet, with a production of this caliber, I’m choosing to believe that the makeup and even visual effects necessary to make the narrative believable will be used with care — and if not, more replies on X will probably bully the production into action.

Ultimately, casting actors whose faces have been popping up throughout hit films doesn’t necessarily make for a bad movie if and only if the actors themselves are willing to put in the performance of a lifetime and act through their differences from the person they’re portraying.

For example, Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Bob Dylan in 2024’s “A Complete Unknown” wasn’t necessarily hampered by his current fame, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of the four faux Beatles walked away from these films with an Oscar nom or two. 

If the actors can back it, they can hack it. As always, the real enemy of stunt casting is Emerald Fennell’s upcoming “Wuthering Heights” project with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, not a bunch of young, hot guys playing the Beatles.

Anna Jordan is a sophomore writing about pop culture controversies in her column, “Chronically Online,” which runs every other Thursday. She is also a chief copy editor at the Daily Trojan.