Joseph Quinn calls Barry Keoghan live on air mid-Beatles movie screen test

Listen! Do you want to know a secret? Screen tests for Sam Mendes‘ four separate Beatles biopics are officially underway.

Joseph Quinnwho will play George Harrison in the upcoming films, confirmed the development when speaking to his costar Barry Keoghanwho will star as Ringo Starrduring a game of “Sitting Down or Standing Up” with Ebon moss-barach on BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast show on Friday. As its name implies, the recurring segment sees A-listers attempt to predict whether or not their famous friends are sitting down or standing up before giving them a call and asking them live on air.

“Are you standing up or are you sat down?” Quinn asked, prompting Keoghan to nervously reply, “I’m sat down. What’s happening? Are you pregnant? What’s happening?”

“I’m on Radio 1 and we’re playing a game where I have to call you and we’re guessing,” Quinn began, to which Keoghan interrupted, “Oh! What’s happening, everyone in England, U.K.? What’s up?”

Host Greg James jumped in to explain that they’d decided to give Keoghan a ring-o to see how he was doing. “Is Joe pregnant? Can I be the godfather?” Keoghan asked. Quinn replied, “Yeah, of course. Thank God you were sat down.”

The Stranger Things alum then attempted to hang up, but the Saltburn actor wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye just yet. “I’m on the radio,” he remarked. “I wanna make most of this.”

So, naturally, Quinn pivoted to ask if Keoghan was currently in the middle of a screen test for their upcoming Beatles films. In addition to Quinn and Keoghan playing Harrison and Starr, respectively, Paul Mescal and Harris Dickinson are set to round out the remaining members of the onscreen version of the Fab Four as Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

“I’m doing the screen test,” Keoghan confirmed. “It’s great. I look amazing. I’m not even messing — I look amazing. I look more Ringo than Ringo looks Ringo.”

Quinn quipped, “I bet you do.”

Although, Keoghan admitted, the experience wasn’t quite the same without their very own Quiet Beatle on set. “We’re missing one Beatle,” he remarked. To which Quinn replied, “He’s far away from home. He misses you, though… I hope the test goes well, mate. And thanks for answering.”

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

But, before the call could come to an end, James had one quick question. “You’re (Quinn) here. The screen test is happening without you,” he said. “But isn’t it all sorted? Like, what’s the test for?”

“The looks,” Moss-Bachrach explained, making a motion with his hands to evoke long, flowing hair not unlike the shoulder-length locks the Beatles sported in the ‘70s. Keoghan, ever an agent of chaos, added, “It’s an audition thing. We might lose the part if we don’t do it right.”

In true brother behavior, Quinn kept the joke going when James asked if they could really lose their roles. “Well, we’ll see,” he joked. “Fingers crossed!”

To assuage the host’s worries, Keoghan confirmed that he is “definitely Ringo” in the films, adding, “I’m allowed to say that, right?”

And Quinn is “definitely” Harrison… he thinks. “Well, yeah,” he replied. “I hope so.”

As for Mescal playing McCartney? “Alright you fellas, you have a good day,” Keoghan teased, cutting the conversation off there. “Wait, Barry!” James yelled. “I wanna get to the bottom of this!”

Since Keoghan’s casting was announced, the actor has opened up about his experience visiting Starr at his house — and being so nervous the entire time that he couldn’t look the rock legend in the eye. “I was nervous, like right now,” he recalled at the time. “But he’s like, ‘You can look at me.’”

All four separate Beatles films will rock up in theaters in April 2028. For now, watch Quinn call Keoghan — and Pedro Pascal send the gang to voicemail — in the clip above.