Jane Asher has spent decades declining to revisit her relationship with Paul McCartney, even though their time together helped inspire some of the Beatles’ most enduring songs. Now, as that relationship is set to be dramatized on the big screen, she has no intention of watching.
Asher, who dated the Beatle bass guitarist for five years and became engaged to him in 1967, is being portrayed by Lucy Boynton in Sam Mendes’ upcoming four-part Beatles film series. The actor says the filmmakers did reach out to her, but she gave them the same response she has given to inquiries about her relationship with McCartney for years.
“They approached me about it, of course, but I said my usual,” Asher told The Telegraph.
Asher and McCartney met in 1963, when she interviewed the Beatles at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Their relationship quickly became serious, with McCartney eventually moving into the Asher family home. The years they spent together coincided with one of the Beatles’ most creatively fertile periods, and Asher has been connected to several McCartney compositions from the era.
People would offer me money to talk about it, all sorts of things. But I won’t discuss it. It was so long ago.”
— Jane Asher
The years they spent together coincided with one of the Beatles’ most creatively fertile periods, and Asher was a direct influence on several of McCartney’s songs. “And I Love Her” (from 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night),“I’m Looking Through You” (from 1965’s Rubber Soul) and “For No One” (from 1966’s Revolver) have all been associated with their relationship.
Their engagement ended in 1968, with Asher making the announcement during a BBC television appearance. McCartney married Linda McCartney the following year.
Asher, now 80, has made clear that she considers the relationship a closed chapter. She said she has turned down offers of money to talk about McCartney and has no interest in reopening the subject for the new films.
“People would offer me money to talk about it, all sorts of things,” she said. “But I won’t discuss it. It was so long ago.”
That extends to Boynton’s portrayal of her. Asked about the casting, Asher acknowledged that her onscreen counterpart is “beautiful,” but said she won’t see the finished films.
“Well, of course, Lucy is beautiful. But I won’t watch the films, otherwise everyone will ask me what I thought.”
Mendes’ The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event will tell the band’s story four times, with each movie centered on a different Beatle. Paul Mescal plays McCartney, with Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.
The ensemble also includes Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney, Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono, Aimee Lou Wood as Pattie Boyd and Mia McKenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey.
The project has the participation of Apple Corps and the surviving Beatles, giving Mendes access to the group’s music rights as well as their approval for the films. The four movies are scheduled to open in theaters simultaneously in April 2028.
Asher isn’t the only Beatles partner whose connection to the project has attracted attention. Boyd said earlier this year that she had not been contacted by the production about her portrayal, adding, “I could have really told them great stories.”
