Yesterday's $10 million question: why is it so difficult – and expensive – to license a Beatles song?
A few years ago, director Danny Boyle sat at his desk and wrote several letters by hand. One he sent to Paul McCartney, another to Ringo Starr. The final two missives wended their way to Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, widows of John Lennon and George Harrison respectively.
Boyle was a huge Beatles fan. But that wasn’t his motive for putting pen to paper. He and Richard Curtis, the romantic comedy doyen behind Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, were in the early stages of collaborating on what would eventually become the film Yesterday.
The movie is a love letter to the songs of John, Paul, Ringo and George. It asks us to imagine a world in which just one person – portrayed by former EastEnders actor Himesh Patel – remembers their music (with gooey, cheek-dampening results).
Source: Ed Power/telegraph.co.uk
