Paul Mescal says he’ll work less before Beatles biopics: ‘People will get a break from me’
Paul Mescal attends the photocall for the ‘Hamnet’ Photography Exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery on Dec. 16, 2025, in London, England. (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
Paul Mescal is looking forward to taking a break.
The actor, who stars as William Shakespeare in the new film Hamnet, recently told The Guardian that audiences can expect to see less of him on their movie screens for a while.
“Once I’ve finished promoting [Hamnet],” Mescal said, “I hope nobody gets to see me until 2028 when I’m doing the Beatles. People will get a break from me and I’ll get a break from them.”
Mescal is set to play Paul McCartney in Sony’s upcoming Beatles films, which are releasing in 2028.
Along with Mescal, The Beatles movies will star Harris Dickinson, Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan. The project marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles — John Lennon, McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film about the band.
Sam Mendes will direct four different films, each told from a different member of The Beatles’ point of view. They will all intersect to tell the full story of the band’s history, according to a press release from Sony.
Mescal found his big break by starring in the Hulu series Normal People, which premiered in 2020. He says he’s been working continuously since then.
“I’m five or six years into this now, and I feel very lucky. But I’m also learning that I don’t think I can go on doing it as much,” Mescal said.
When asked if that means he is going to ration himself in the years to come, the actor said, “I think so.”
“I’m gonna have to start doing that. For sure. … Rationing doesn’t necessarily mean less,” Mescal said.
Justin Baldoni speaks onstage at the Vital Voices 12th Annual Voices of Solidarity Awards, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. Blake Lively attends ‘Another Simple Favor’ New York Screening, April 27, 2025, in New York. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images | Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Animosity on the set of the film It Ends With Us was evident well before highly publicized lawsuits between stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were filed, newly unsealed text messages show.
The messages, which are among the hundreds of documents the judge overseeing the civil claims ordered unsealed ahead of a hearing this week, show Lively and Baldoni venting to friends and colleagues during filming.
In a May 2023 text exchange between Lively and a journalist, Lively expresses her frustration with filming and says she “came home and cried” on one occasion. The actress also writes, “They’re just being creeps,” when referring to her co-star.
Texts between Baldoni and another actor show he was equally frustrated while making the movie. Baldoni, who also served as the film’s director, said in one message that Lively was threatening not to promote the movie if she was not allowed to take part in the edit.
In one message, he wrote, “She had the nuclear bomb. If she doesn’t promote the movie she can leak that I’m a bad person or that she felt unsafe with me and ‘all the stuff’ she has on me. Then she’s the victim.”
In a later text message, he wrote, “The risk to my family isn’t worth the creative integrity.”
Other unsealed documents include a text exchange between Lively and fellow actress Jenny Slate, who also appeared in the film.
Referring to Baldoni, Lively wrote, “I also saw something in him, was aware of a general vibe that I’m not into, and I pushed past it. Never again! Lesson learned.”
ABC News has reached out to Slate’s representative for comment.
Lively first filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends with Us and accusing both Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios of engaging in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation.
The two filed dueling lawsuits against each other in New York in the weeks that followed, with Lively reiterating the claims made in her earlier complaint and further accusing Baldoni of retaliation, suing him for nearly $500 million in damages. Baldoni’s lawyer denied the allegations, stating at the time that they had “evidence which will show a pattern of bullying and threats to take over the movie” by Lively.
Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane’s public relations company Vision PR alleging extortion and defamation, claiming Lively had “robbed” him of control over the film and had destroyed his reputation.
Lively’s lawyers denied the allegations and called Baldoni’s suit “another chapter in the abuser playbook.”
“This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim,” they said in a statement at the time.
A federal judge in New York dismissed Baldoni’s suit in June of last year, formally ending the counterclaim in October after Baldoni did not refile an amended complaint. Attorney Byran Freedman said at the time, “Our clients chose not to amend their complaint to preserve appeal rights. In the meantime, we are focusing on Ms. Lively’s claims. We remain fully committed to pursuing the truth through every legal and factual avenue available and look forward to our day in court.”
Lively’s suit against Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios is ongoing.
This week’s documents were unsealed ahead of a hearing scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 22. The trial is set to begin May 18.
A member of Lively’s legal team responded to the newly unsealed documents in a statement to ABC News, writing, “In his TedTalk to promote his brand as an advocate for women, Justin Baldoni said we must ‘listen to the women’…even if what they are saying is against you.’ See how he actually reacts in the bombshell new evidence released for the first time, which includes sworn testimony and contemporaneous messages from numerous women who actually worked with him.”
The statement continued, “The newly unsealed evidence contains never-before seen testimony, messages, and evidence from numerous eyewitnesses backing the claims in Ms. Lively’s lawsuit. The evidence includes Ms. Lively’s own testimony describing the harassment she faced, as well as new evidence from numerous women describing their own disturbing experiences.”
ABC News has reached out to Baldoni’s representatives for comment.
Poster for ‘Breaking Glass: The Pat Summitt Story’ (ABC News Studios)
The story of legendary Tennessee Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt is told in Breaking Glass: The Pat Summitt Story, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. The documentary follows her journey through her coaching career and features many of the people she impacted. Director Dawn Porter says it also highlights an often overlooked aspect of her legacy.
“Something I think people don’t talk about enough is Pat invited a number of Black women into the University of Tennessee to play for her when that wasn’t that common,” she says. “She didn’t make a big deal of it. … She invited the best players.”
One of those players was WNBA star Candace Parker, who still carries lessons she learned under Pat’s leadership.
“I talked with Candace Parker, who played for Pat, and she said that they were required as Lady Vols to sit in the front row in the classroom. Candace says to this day, when she’s somewhere, she sits in the front row,” says executive producer Robin Roberts. “There were many life skills … that had nothing to do with basketball, but still stays with all these women … decades later.”
With so many meaningful moments embedded in the documentary, Robin hopes viewers walk away understanding how deeply Pat cared.
“I hope people will realize how much she truly cared, not just about the Tennessee Lady Vols, not just about women’s basketball, but how much she truly, truly cared and how she saw you,” she says. “When you were in front of Pat Summitt, you thought you were the only person on earth. She made you feel important. She made you feel seen and heard.”
Dawn adds, “I hope people understand that she was a leader through and through, and she just treated everybody the same. … She was not a person who was only caring about the superstars. She cared about everybody.”
Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin in ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.’ (Lucasfilm)
This is the way (to the movie theaters).
Lucasfilm has released a new trailer for the upcoming film Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. Pedro Pascal stars as Din Djarin in the movie based on the popular Disney+ TV series The Mandalorian.
“The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy,” according to the film’s official description. “As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin and his young apprentice Grogu.”
Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White also star in the movie, directed and produced by Jon Favreau. Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni and Ian Bryce produce the film.
“The kid will live centuries beyond me. I won’t always be around to protect him,” Din Djarin says in the trailer.
After a series of action-packed fight scenes and brand-new alien creatures, the trailer ends with Grogu snacking on a blue cookie.
“Let’s save the rest for after dinner,” Din tells Grogu, who ignores him and takes another bite of his sweet treat.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, which was filmed for IMAX, exclusively arrives in theaters on May 22.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Lucasfilm.
