Scousers will find much to enjoy in Danny Boyle’s new Beatles-inspired movie Yesterday - with a number of key scenes both set and filmed in the city.
The romantic comedy - written by Richard Curtis - imagines a world without the Fab Four and hearing those iconic songs for the very first time.
The ECHO was given a sneak preview ahead of the film’s release this week and while on paper the premise sounds downright bizarre, it works.
The end result is a funny and charming love story that also examines the price we pay for success. It’s sweet but not saccharine, and a fitting tribute to the music of The Beatles.
Our hero is struggling Suffolk musician Jack (Himesh Patel), who wakes from a freak accident to find no-one else remembers the songs made famous by John, Paul, George and Ringo.
He decides to sing them himself and becomes a celebrity (with a little help from Ed Sheeran, playing himself) - but can’t quite remember the lyrics to some of the Beatles’ best-loved hits.
Hear more from Danny Boyle, Richard Curtis and Himesh Patel
Hear more from Yesterday’s creators on the Liverpool Echo’s Beatles City podcast.
Screenwriter Richard Curtis and director Danny Boyle are joined by the film’s star Himesh Patel for the launch episode of the second series.
Beatles City is unique in bringing you the experiences of those who have been brushed by the group’s fame in the place where it all began.
In the new series, presenters Laura Davis and Ellen Kirwin also speak to the man who was a Beatle for just two weeks, take a tour of John Lennon’s and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes and find out about the Black musicians who have become a mostly forgotten part of the Merseybeat scene.
And you can still listen to the popular debut series, in which fan club secretary Freda Kelly reveals why she asked George Harrison for some of his hair, Pete Best recalls the moment he was sacked from the band and McCartney himself shares the emotional moment he stepped through the doors of his childhood home for the first time in 50 years.
Find Beatles City on iTunes, Acast and all usual podcast providers.
It’s a journey that takes him to Liverpool - in scenes filmed in the city last summer in Penny Lane, Strawberry Field, Liverpool city centre and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
“I said to Richard that we had to have a sequence where he goes to Liverpool,” award-winning director Danny told the ECHO.
“I’d say - as someone from Manchester! - if you make a film about The Beatles and you don’t go to Liverpool, you’re going to get killed!
“If I was Jack and I was struggling to remember the lyrics, it would be something I’d do: I’d go to Liverpool and see where Penny Lane was, see Eleanor Rigby’s grave and get some clues.
“It gave us a problem filming as we had to make sure there was none of the fan memorabilia that’s in those places. It’s a world without the Beatles so we had to make sure they were clear of that.”
One crucial sequence sees a race against time to Lime Street station - ending with characters Jack, Ellie (Lily James) and Rocky (Joel Fry) hanging out in Upper Crust.
It was a change to the original script, Danny reveals.
“It was meant to be Nando’s and obviously there isn’t one in the station,” he says. “We said to Upper Crust, ‘Can we turn you into a Nando’s?’.
“They weren’t keen so they made it into quite a posh Upper Crust, which I think they’re doing with their other shops.
“It was nice to film on the station. I’ve filmed in Liverpool and Manchester before and for me as a northerner, it’s a pleasure to come home.”
No spoilers but one scene also finds two characters in the Birkenhead tunnel, which came thanks to Danny’s powers of persuasion.
“I got a pass even though I’m from Manchester!”, Danny laughs, then adds more seriously: “If you behave decently to people you get that back.
“They agreed to shut it for a couple of hours for us to run around in the tunnel.
“We had to be quick but it was lovely to be able to do that. It’s under the Mersey so people don’t usually get to do it!”
Danny says only eagle-eyed Merseysiders will pick up on some of the smallest details in the film - including a change of name for Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
The director - the man behind Trainspotting and Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire - has very specific memories of playing at being the Beatles while growing up in Manchester.
He said: “We were upstairs and meant to be in bed. My twin sister Maria was in love with Paul McCartney.
“He was her first proper crush like a lot of girls, such a handsome lad, and the music of the Beatles was so joyful.
“We used to play impersonating the Beatles, I’d play John and she’d play Paul. I knew nothing about him so it wasn’t him being the cool one or anything like that.
“Our little sister Bernadette, who was four, didn’t know what was going on but she had to play George or Ringo!
“Our parents were downstairs playing those incredible records, which I now own and they must be worth a lot because they were the first pressings.
“You always think of your parents as old but in fact they were young and listening to the Beatles!”
With permission granted to use the Beatles’ back catalogue, it meant Danny and Richard could use them for added emotional resonance at key moments in the story.
So Help! literally becomes an anguished cry for help, leading into Danny’s favourite moment in the film - a silent scene that sees Jack in his dressing room, contemplating his future.
Danny relished the chance to team up with Love Actually writer Richard Curtis, who sent him the script out of the blue.
He says he instinctively knew it was the project for him and was drawn to the script’s “great love story”.
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He wrote to the surviving Beatles, along with Yoko Ono and George’s widow, Olivia Harrison, to explain why he was making the film and said he received a “lovely” note from Ringo in reply.
The script originally featured Chris Martin of Coldplay but was later rewritten for Ed Sheeran, who gamely sends himself up.
Danny said: “He was great actually.
“I said to him ‘if you really want to do it well, come to rehearsals’ and he did, he carved out proper time so he could come and rehearse with the other actors and learn.
“A lot of acting is picking up a rhythm from other actors and listening to the other actors, not just doing your lines.
“But he was lovely and it pays off, and he’s very funny in the film.”
Yesterday is in cinemas from Friday, June 28.
Hear more from Yesterday’s creators on the Liverpool Echo’s Beatles City podcast. Find it on iTunes, Acast and all usual podcast providers.
