Ed Sheeran NOT first choice for Beatles film Yesterday: THIS huge rock star turned it down

So, Ed Sheeran basically plays himself in Yesterday. How could anyone else possibly be the first choice? The role was written with another major British music superstar in mind, who Ed himself suspected was actually Harry Styles. However, director Danny Boyle just spilled the beans on the film’s London red carpet. With hindsight, it looks like it was for the best that the superstar turned it down.

The role is a superstar who finds himself suddenly upstaged by a total nobody who happens to be one of the only people in the world that remembers the Beatles existed.

Jack Malik (played by Himesh Patel) passes off the greatest back catalogue in music history as his own and becomes the biggest star in the world. Along the way there are some amusingly humbling moments for the other formerly unrivalled musical genius.

Boyle revealed: “Originally it was meant to be Chris Martin. In fact, he was written in the script as Chris Martin. But actually, Chris just finished touring with Coldplay and said he didn’t want to do it. So we moved to Ed Sheeran. And Ed teases us remorselessly about that. That we picked him second. And in fact, he said ‘I think you wanted Harry Styles second and me third.’ And that’s not true. Although Harry Styles was very good in Dunkirk.”

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“Ed was Wonderful, I’d say. A real surprise. He was very serious about being in rehearsals and learning a bit about the craft of acting. He really committed himself to it. And he’s very funny in the film.”

Ed’s co-stars also fell over themselves to praise him.

Lily James added: “Ed’s amazing he’s so relaxed and chilled. As an actor, I was like, ‘Wow I wish I could be that relaxed on set. It was really impressive.”

Not bad for a lad whose previous on-screen outing as a singing Lannister soldier in Game of Thrones received rather mixed reviews.

Hollywood funny lady Kate McKinnon said: “(Sheeran was) so natural it was crazy, we were all just watching like, ‘What’s going on?’

“He was so amazing in the movie.”

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