Boyle’s day
Beatles’ music ‘shifted the world on its axis,’ Yesterday director says
It would have made a nice headline: From Beatles to Bond. But instead, for now, it’s just Danny Boyle speaking from New York ready to talk about his imaginative spin on the Fab Four in the romantic dramedy Yesterday. All Beatles, no Bond.
The Manchester-born Boyle, who won an Oscar for 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire, was slated to take the reins of Bond 25 after finishing work on Yesterday, which imagines a world where the songs of John, Paul, George and Ringo never came to be.
The version he was co-writing with longtime collaborator John Hodge was rumoured to climax with the killing of Daniel Craig’s British spy.
But “creative differences” arose and Boyle departed the project. Cary Joji Fukunaga is now in the director’s chair.
All Boyle will say about the experience is that he and Hodge had a different vision for 007 than the film’s producers. No hard feelings. No regret.
Yesterday, written by Richard Curtis (Love Actually, About Time, Notting Hill), casts relative newcomer Himesh Patel as Jack Malik, a struggling singer-songwriter who discovers after a global blackout that he’s one of the only people who remembers the songs of the Beatles. With none of his own music catching on, he starts to play tracks made famous by the British foursome and taking credit for them. As his fame grows thanks to celebrity backers like Ed Sheeran (who plays himself ), Jack’s relationship with his closest friend Ellie (Lily James) starts to fray.
Boyle spoke about the enduring appeal of Beatlemania.
Q What drew you into this story about a world in which the Beatles’ music didn’t exist?
A It’s the premise, really. Rather than a straight biopic, which is in fashion at the moment, there was something about this idea that the Beatles had been erased. Using that idea as a way to look at them again was a wonderful way to re-examine their music in a fresh way. I didn’t realize how significant that was until I started to look for someone to play the part. You realize that some people are playing it and they’re doing an almost karaoke version, and that’s fine because it would be like that ABBA movie.
But this is different. (Jack) has to make you feel that they are his songs. Lots of humour lies there, but also moral dilemmas because he’s becoming, to use John Lennon’s phrase, more popular than Jesus. And in the meantime, he’s leaving behind this girl, who actually loves him far more than these other people. Her love is truer than anything else. He has to learn the value of that. So the lessons are very truthful and very valuable. And there’s some kickass music in there as well.
Q People here in North America may not know Himesh. How did you land on him?
A We started seeing people and, to be honest, some of them were probably better guitarists than him. Some of them were certainly better singers. But they didn’t have any connection with the songs other than the fact that they’d learned them and presented them. He walked in and, it’s a terrible cliché, but he just had soul. I suspect he was able to tap into the melancholy that’s in some of their songs. Even in their happy songs there’s a slight tinge of sadness, and I think he connected with that. As soon as he started playing, I just thought: ‘It’s him.’ We could have cast someone else, but that would have been a crime. But we had to convince the studio because they ideally wanted someone like Ryan Gosling (laughs). They just wanted a name, but we convinced them otherwise.
Q My favourite Beatles song is in here — The Long and Winding Road — and so is my mom’s — Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. Was there any Beatles song you wish you could have got in there that you couldn’t?
A That’s the problem. There were lots. I can think of four straight away that we haven’t even touched on ... The medley from Abbey Road is one of my favourites. It’s an extraordinary back catalogue. We could have made another version of this straight away and fill it with another 17 songs. I’m delighted to hear about your mother’s favourite song because that’s one I love, as well. It’s a wonderful celebration of a very ordinary family life.
Q Why do you think the music of the Beatles has endured the way it has?
A I think it’s their emergence (in the ’60s). There was a postwar austerity in the U.K. that was broken by these four men and the screaming girls that accompanied them, and it sent a shiver and a permanent fracture through a stifling British establishment. ... They shifted the world on its axis. For something to shift the world on its axis, it has to have a sustaining power because otherwise it’s a wonderful passing fad. ... They are permanent. History will not outlive them.