In the week’s since its release, Danny Boyle’s Yesterday has already become a smashing success, but it turns out some rather smashing cameos were actually cut from the film.
Over the last few weeks, music and movie-lovers have been adoring the new Danny Boyle film, Yesterday. Starring Himesh Patel in the lead role, the film follows Jack Malik as he wakes up, only to discover that no one remembers the music of The Beatles.
After realising this has some pretty interesting implications, Jack soon passes off the Fab Four’s music as his own, and is soon catapulted to stardom.
However, despite sounding like the film version of the divisive Mandela Effect, the movie has become something of a major success, paying off at the box office, and featuring guest appearances from the likes of Ed Sheeran, James Corden, and Michael Kiwanuka.
In the film though, moviegoers are treated to – SPOILER ALERT – an alternate-reality version of John Lennon, who escapes his 1980 murder and instead goes on to live a long life. However, as writer Richard Curtis explains, Yesterday almost featured appearances from all of The Beatles.
Check out the trailer to Yesterday:
Speaking to the Empire podcast (via NME), Curtis explained that the likes of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison would have been depicted in the film.
“When [Jack] first goes to Liverpool, I’d written a long scene where he just goes to a pub and he bumps into George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr],” Curtis explained.
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“It was, I hope, a sweet scene, and they were just two delightful, oldish men who’d once been in a band together […] music enthusiasts who had never got any further.”
Similarly, Richard Curtis notes that an ending scene would have featured an homage to The Beatles’ track ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’, and would’ve featured Paul McCartney.
“[Jack] was going to move to the Isle of Wight, to a cottage, and you were going to hear outside his window someone saying, ‘Vera, Chuck, Dave!'” Curtis added. “There were going to be three dogs and Paul was going to be walking them.”
While it’s not clear if the real Paul McCartney would have been playing this role, it goes without saying this would’ve been something of an endearing addition to the final product.
However, Curtis noted that the decision to only include John Lennon in the final cut was due to the importance of the scene. “It was the scene that had the most meaning, and was in some ways the pivotal scene of the film,” he added.
Check out ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ by The Beatles:
