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  • Hi. this is Danny Boyle, the director ofYesterday.”

  • “I’ve got a bunch of new songs.

  • And I thought people might like to hear them.”

  • Oh.”

  • So where we are in this scene is

  • that Jack has recovered from the accident, which happened

  • during the blackout, where the Beatles were erased

  • from the world’s consciousness.

  • And he’s discovered the opportunity,

  • which is to revitalize his own fairly unsuccessful

  • singer-songwriting career by actually playing the Beatles

  • songs that he can remember.

  • Right.

  • This is calledLet It Be.’”

  • So Himesh Patel plays Jack Malik.

  • That’s his mom, Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar, who are,

  • in fact, a real life couple.

  • But actually, they are also two of the finest

  • comic actors in Britain, as well,

  • independently of each other.

  • And he starts to sing by saying to his parents

  • that he’s got a couple of new songs he wants to try out,

  • and he’s going to go back to performing,

  • even though they thought he was giving up.

  • They wanted him to give up, because they think

  • it’s a bit of a dead end.

  • [music - “let it be’]

  • “(SINGING) comes to me — “

  • [doorbell ringing]

  • “ — speaking — “

  • Oh, oh.

  • Sorry, love.”

  • Theyre inclined to think this is Jack just indulging

  • the dead end of his career.

  • So they don’t sense that they are actually

  • the first people on Earth to apparently hear

  • one of the greatest masterpieces of pop

  • music ever written.

  • Really?

  • I thought — I thought he’d given up?”

  • Yeah.

  • No.

  • Well, he’s got some new songs.

  • And what’s this one called?”

  • “’Leave It Be.’”

  • “’Let It Be.’”

  • Oh, excellent, well — “

  • The misnaming of the song was something

  • that Meera Syal came up with on the day.

  • [music - “let it be’]

  • “(SINGING) When I find myself in times of trouble — “

  • Would you like a drink, Terry?”

  • “(SPEAKING) Dad!”

  • Well, I’d already heard that bit.”

  • Sorry, Jack.”

  • Everything that can interrupt the song

  • is essential to the comedy of the scene, really.

  • Because as Jack fights for the great masterpiece

  • of cultural achievement to be heard,

  • it’s not even allowed any room.

  • Because everybody’s too busy with their phones,

  • with their beer.

  • And Karl Theobald, who plays Terry,

  • does a wonderful tapping of the sofa arm,

  • out of time to the song, which is the ultimate insult.

  • [cellphone ringing]

  • Sorry, my fault. Oh.”

  • So the key thing was to try and find the living room that

  • looked incredibly ordinary.

  • We wanted it to feel very, very ordinary.

  • And I remember on the day turning up

  • that we kept the property looking almost the same as it

  • was when we found it.

  • Because it looked perfect.

  • But they didn’t have a piano.

  • So then they brought along on the day, a choice of pianos.

  • And wethis piano that he plays on

  • is not the best tuned piano.

  • But I wanted it to look like it was the piano that he

  • grew up learning on.

  • The ordinary is very important in the film.

  • Because where the guys came from,

  • the Fab Four, the original Beatles,

  • was from a very ordinary town, in a way.

  • [music - “let it be’]

  • Then maybe we can have summer songs!”

  • [dissonant banging on piano]

  • Christ!

  • This isLet It Be!”

  • Youre the first people on Earth to hear this song!”

  • So many of us have tried to persuade

  • our parents to listen to a song, you know,

  • because we love it.

  • And they can’t hear it.

  • We all know that scenario, don’t we?

  • One of the reasons we picked the location

  • is that it’s got this round glass, which

  • gives a distorted view of people arriving.

  • Theyre kind of, like, out of focus.

  • Theyre grotesque, really.

  • Which is what they feel like to him.

  • How are you?”

  • Fine.”

  • Well, that went well.”

Hi. this is Danny Boyle, the director ofYesterday.”

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