It was a getaway forged in military-style secrecy to allow Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to escape the madness of Beatlemania at its peak.

Using fake names, the pop gods chartered a yacht around the Virgin Islands in May 1964, keen to enjoy three weeks’ privacy with their girlfriends away from the intense pressures of fame.

Now fans will finally find out what happened aboard the luxury 30-foot boat as director Sam Mendes recreates the holiday for his forthcoming project about the Fab Four. 

And with Starr on board as a consultant, fact-checking every scene, the movie should offer more than a film-maker’s invention.

Paul Mescal, 30, and Barry Keoghan, 33, who play McCartney and Starr respectively, were last week spotted recreating the holiday aboard a replica of the original vessel, Happy Days. 

And while they portrayed The Beatles, Spain’s Costa Brava was standing in for the Caribbean idyll.

Also on the shoot were Bohemian Rhapsody star Lucy Boynton, 32, playing McCartney’s girlfriend Jane Asher, and Mia McKenna-Bruce, 28, as Maureen Cox, who was to become Starr’s first wife less than a year later. 

Little is known about the trip except that McCartney, now 83, penned the ballad Things We Said Today while sheltering below deck from seasickness. 

In a nod to this, Gladiator star Mescal was seen strumming on a guitar above deck.

Reminiscing in his memoirs, McCartney said he wrote the love song in one afternoon, adding that, as with every track, he immediately wanted to show it to the world – ‘and the world at that moment was the people on the boat’.

There have been reports of tensions on set between Keoghan and his co-stars. The Irish actor is said to have angered the crew with poor timekeeping and the presence of his younger brother, Eric as his assistant.

But he appeared close to Mescal as the pair were seen chatting amicably and wrapping their arms around each other on the bow of the boat. Both also went shirtless to soak up the sun.

Mendes is making four parallel biopics about each Beatle for release in 2028.