Sean Lennon attended the Oscars on Sunday, March 11, where War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko, a short movie he co-wrote and executive produced, won the Academy Award in the Animated Short Film category.
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During a red-carpet interview before the ceremony, Sean was asked by Variety who he’d like to portray his late dad, John Lennon, in the upcoming Beatles biopic series that Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes will be directing.
Lennon had a somewhat cheeky response for the Variety interviewer.
“I’m hoping that Emma Stone might consider it, ’cause she did such a good job in Poor Things,” the 48-year-old musician said. “And I think if you’re gonna reach that as an actor, the next obvious step is to really go for it and be John Lennon.”
About Emma Stone’s Oscar-Winning Performance
Stone wound up taking home the Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role, for her portrayal of Bella Baxter in Poor Things. The film tells the surreal story of a young woman who dies and is brought back to life by an eccentric scientist who replaces her brain with that of her own unborn child.
Sean Lennon on the Beatles Biopics
Sean also commented in general about the recently announced plan for Mendes to direct four Beatles-themed biopics, each one told from the perspective of a different band member.
“That’s the minimum you need to cover the epic story of The Beatles. You need four films,” Lennon said.
Sean also admitted that he thinks it will be challenging to find the right actor to play his dad.
“I’m not much of a filmmaker … but I do think with someone as famous as my dad, it’s very hard to cast a film like that,” he told Variety.
Having said that, he noted that “some very successful biopics about music people,” including La Vie en Rose and Ray, which were about French chanteuse Edith Piaf and sould great Ray Charles, respectively.
“So you can pull it off,” Sean added. “And I think we’re gonna do a good job, so I’m excited.”
Asked whether he’d been working with Mendes at all on the project, Lennon gave another jokey answer.
“I’m the DP. I’m the grip. And I’m also catering, which you wouldn’t expect that, but I’ll be cooking up a storm,” he said. When the interviewer then suggested that Sean also will be portraying his dad in the films, Lennon quipped, “Well, I’ll be playing my mom [Yoko Ono], actually.”
More About the Beatles Biopics
As previously reported, the four Beatles biopics are expected to premiere in 2027. The project marks the first time that The Beatles and the group’s Apple Corps Ltd. company have granted the full rights to the band members’ music and life stories for use in a scripted movie.
About the War Is Over! Short Film
As for the War Is Over! film, it was inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s classic 1971 holiday peace anthem, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” The movie was the brainchild of Sean Lennon, who co-wrote the film with Dave Mullins, a former Pixar animator whose other credits include Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Up.
