Essex-shot film Yesterday finally makes it to the big screen

The Academy Award-winning director, who stepped down from 007 franchise earlier this year, has paired up with rom-com master Richard Curtis for fantasy film Yesterday.

Filmed all over East Anglia, including Clacton and Frinton, Yesterday is a rock ‘n’ roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life.

But while he’s not afraid to genre-hop, it’s not the remit you’d envisage from a man who made his directorial debut with Trainspotting more than two decades ago, and who has since been celebrated for often surreal, quick-paced and fast-edited epics.

“It’s true that you wouldn’t expect a romantic comedy from me, but I’ve always loved Richard’s work,” quips Boyle, 62, who took home the Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire.

“You’ve got to remember that Richard produced and wrote Blackadder, which is one of the pinnacles of British comedy, and subversive comedy as well.

“So, to be able to collaborate with him was a real joy; he’s remained in a slightly narrower corridor than I, and he’s dedicated his life to romance and comedy, and I really admire that,” he follows.

“To work, they have to look effortless – but they’re not effortless. He’s spent a career trying to perfect it, so you can’t help but learn by working with him.”

The film itself tells the story of Jack Malik (Himesh Patel), a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the support of his best friend, Ellie (Lily James).

• Picture:PA/Universal

Things take a turn, however, when, after a freak bus accident, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. Bizarre, maybe. But fast forward – and with the help of his American agent Debra (Kate McKinnon), and his roadie Rocky (Joel Fry), he takes their music to the stage himself.

Featuring new versions of The Beatles’ most beloved hits – expect a soundtrack album – the concept was a dream for screenwriter Curtis, who is a huge fan of the Fab Four.

“My life has been about The Beatles, really,” he confesses. “From the age of seven when I stood outside a hotel in Sweden waiting for them to come out on to the balcony – to 62, on my last birthday, when we had a ‘What’s our favourite Beatles’ song?’ countdown with six friends of mine.

“But, actually, someone rang me up and said, ‘I’ve got this script which has this plot’, and I said, ‘Stop right there,” he recalls. ‘If you let me write my version, then it will be the happiest two years of my life!’.”

Pairing up with Boyle was also a huge appeal.

“If you saw us together, you would think, ‘Oh yeah, actually they’re both quite perky’!” Curtis reasons. “We were born within a week of each other and he’s a huge music fan, and actually a softy like me, really.

“He loves people and life, and so it worked out really well. It’s just he’s a much better director than me,” he teases. “I was never going to direct it.”

• Star role - Himesh Patel and Lily James. Picture:PA/Universal

One thing the film-making duo – who also produce the movie – weren’t clear on, however, was who would play the film’s reluctant hero, Jack. They needed a name who could sing and act – but who didn’t have film fame already.

Enter Patel. A household name to EastEnders fans – he’d grown up on the prime-time soap having played Tamwar Masood for nine years – but a 28-year-old newbie to veterans Boyle and Curtis, who were taken by his first audition.

“He played ‘USSR’ on acoustic guitar, and it was one of those ‘bing!’ moments,” Boyle remembers. “As soon as he sang it, I knew!”

He adds: “There were other more obvious candidates for the role, but I knew then, ‘That’s him’. It was like I’d never heard that song, a song I loved, before.

“He’d taken it over. He was utterly respectful with The Beatles’ songs, and yet free with them as well.”

It’s a hard job to find the right person, vows Curtis. And the star – who has written everything from the Bridget Jones series to Notting Hill, Love Actually and About A Boy – should know.

• Danny Boyle and screenwriter Richard Curtis at the film’s premiere. Picture: Ian West/PA

“It’s interesting,” he says of recruiting someone relatively under the radar. “Because I wanted to cast somebody not famous in Notting Hill. I thought that would have been really exciting to have a total newbie with Julia Roberts, but we got bored after a day of auditioning, and gave it to Hugh Grant!

“But it was a wonderful moment when Himesh walked in because it could have been a much more famous actor,” he admits, having also welcomed his friend – and pop superstar – Ed Sheeran into the film’s fold too.

“But we’d found the right person,” he agrees.

“Danny and I absolutely loved Himesh,” Curtis says simply. “He was witty and charming; he stuck to this beautiful clarity that let The Beatles’ songs breathe on their own.

“We loved the fact that he wasn’t particularly famous... unless you’re a fan of EastEnders, in which case he’s one of the most famous people in the world!”

Patel’s casting would draw more parallels, too – for the decision to catapult him into the global spotlight mirrored the rise of The Beatles themselves. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison hailed from Liverpool and created something extraordinary.

Did he take it all in his stride?

“It is a bit odd!” says Himesh. “I am a bit baffled by everything that’s happening, but I am supported well by Danny, by Richard, and I have been from the start really.

“I never felt that pressure when I was preparing songs, trying to learn them,” he reasons. “It wasn’t like Danny was knocking on the door every five minutes going, ‘Have you learnt it yet?’ I was well guided through it and that’s carried forward to now,” he insists.

“So yeah, it’s crazy, it’s kind of mad. But you keep your loved ones close, which is kind of what the story tells us,” he concludes. “That no matter what success or fame comes your way, you need those people who know you.”

Yesterday is now in cinemas.