James Norton has revealed that the stars of the new Beatles films have been keeping cool while playing such iconic roles with the help of ice baths.
Ice baths on set in Barcelona
Norton, a lover of natural swimming, tries to take a dip nearly every day near his London home. He managed to stay refreshed on set thanks to an ice bath installed during filming in Barcelona.
He said: “We have one [an ice bath] on set sometimes. I just got back from Barcelona, and we had one in our unit base. It was so lovely!”
Asked if he needed it because his role as manager Brian Epstein was intense, Norton replied: “No, I wasn't doing strenuous activity. I mean, the boys (Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn and Harris Dickinson) are doing strenuous activity; they're on stage playing. I'm standing watching, being sort of adoring, but once you stand on set for a long time, there's nothing better than getting into some ice-cold water!”
Cast and release details
The four films, due for release in 2028, star Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. The Mirror previously reported how the actors recreated the Beatles gig at Shea Stadium in New York City in 1965 at Montjuic baseball stadium in Barcelona.
Norton's diabetes scare
Norton, 41, a former star of BBC drama Happy Valley, also told how he caused “pandemonium” when he almost fainted at a high-profile fashion event due to his Type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed at age 22, he uses a continuous glucose monitor and daily insulin.
Speaking on the Table Manners podcast, Norton recalled asking a woman for help at a GQ event after being unable to eat the carbohydrates he needed. He said: “It was a sort of fashiony thing, and I put my insulin in, thinking that we were going to have some bread with the starter. The starter arrived, and it was this little bit of smoked trout with no carbs.
“They were honouring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman and all these people, and there were speeches after the starter, so I was sitting there, having done my insulin, having eaten this trout, going, `I've got 10 minutes before I start to faint, basically', and I couldn't interrupt the speeches because I was sitting on the high table.
“So I eventually started sweating, and like you know, you get really wobbly. You eventually will faint. So I walked over to the back to the lady that was standing behind my table, saying, `I'm a diabetic. I need some food quickly'.”
The actor was given chocolate and juice and returned to his seat, unaware that “pandemonium had broken out backstage” as people thought he was having a hypo. He added: “In the middle of Nicole Kidman's speech, someone randomly brings me a steaming plate of potatoes. It basically looked like: `This is bullshit. James is hungry. Give him some potatoes'.”
