Blake Richardson is an actor and singer who thinks he looks so much like a young Sir Paul McCartney that he lies to people that he is related to the Beatles legend.
The 22-year-old musician is a singer and guitarist in a pop rock band called New Hope Club but also doubles up as an actor as well.
Blake has been cast as rock legend Sir Paul, 79, in a new film titled Midas Man which is a biopic about music entrepreneur Brian Epstein – who was manager of the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967 aged 32.
Blake thinks he got cast in the roll thanks to his striking likeness to a young Sir Paul, and admits he has conned people into thinking he is related to the icon when he has been abroad.
He told The Sun: “There is obviously very much a resemblance. The first time we went to LA, we were only 16.
"We would turn up and the taxi drivers would recognise our accents from England and we’d be like, ‘This guy here, that’s Paul McCartney’s grandson’. They’d love it and then often tell us how they drove The Beatles.”
He also spoke about his involvement in the film and hints that Beatles fans will be thrilled by the biopic drama.
He said: “I’ve been doing a lot of rehearsals, it’s very exciting.
“Paul has not been in contact yet. But I’d like to think he would be proud someone who has grown up being so obsessed by him, and who adores him, has the job. I’ve tried to follow in the footsteps he has walked.
“I’ve been watching videos of him online since I was about ten.”
The film is directed by Sara Sugarman whose other projects include the 2012 music comedy Vinyl and the 2004 American comedy musical Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.
A brief synopsis of the new film described Midas Man as: “The film tracks how Brian Epstein shot to fame at the age of 25 by discovering a series of artists including The Beatles, Cilla Black and Gerry and the Pacemakers before he died at the age of 32.”
The film will also see relative newcomers Jonah Lees, Leo Harvey Elledge and Campbell Wallace as John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr respectively.
The Queen's Gambit actor Jacob Fortune-Lloyd has been cast as the late Brian Epstein, while Outlander actress Rosie Day will play Cilla Black.
Jonas Åkerlund had originally started work on the film as a director in October last year, but quit the project after a month of filming and was replaced by Sara.
Brian was born in Liverpool in 1934 and was often referred to as “the fifth Beatle” as he successfully managed the group to international stardom.
He died in 1967 of a sedative overdose – which was later ruled as accidental.
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