Julian Lennon finally included in a Beatles project with Sam Mendes' biopics

Julian’s interactions with the filmmaker seem to mark a difference from how he’s usually treated by the Beatles’ management. “Sam and I met earlier this year and had lunch. He was an absolute gentleman,” the musician and photographer gushed. Mendes asked him for stories he might remember of the Beatles phenomenon, but Julian admitted he was too young to remember much. “Then he said, ‘The most important thing for me, Jules, is that I want to make sure that your story and your mother’s story are told with absolute clarity and truth, whatever that means.’ And I just said, ‘I truly appreciate that.'” 

The son of a music legend and his first wife, Cynthia Lennon (whom John left for his second wife, Yoko Ono), Julian admitted he’s never been part of the Beatles’ “inner circle” to The Guardian. “I’ve been so distanced from my own family and my own father’s life and work. I’m on the outside of things. I always have been, since the age of five,” he told Rolling Stone. “Mom and I made our own way most of my life. Dad did help with food and clothing and school. But many people misunderstand that and believe that I’m still and always have been in the mix and that I’ve been swimming in mountains of money. That’s never been the case for me.”

Luckily, he formed a close relationship with his brother Sean. The pair have discussed visiting the set of Mendes’ film(s) together, and Sean asked Julian to read the Lennon-centric script together “to see if anything rubs us not the wrong way, because, again, from Sam’s perspective, he wants this to be the truth as best it can be told,” Julian shared. “I’ll be certainly intrigued to have that chance to read it when I get the opportunity. I just hope it shines a light on everything and everyone. It would be nice if it’s a good thing.”

Julian said he thought the four-different-biopics-at-once idea “was bonkers from the get-go, but then I fell in love with it, and now I’m more intrigued than anything else to see how he’s going to deliver on this.” He added, “It inspires me to believe that Mum, more than anybody, will be seen in a good light. She has always been seen as very gracious and very honorable, so I just hope that comes across.”