Warning: This article contains major spoilers forYesterday.
Proceed at your own risk.
And waiting behind the door is John Lennon, a gasp-inducing twist.
Credit: Jonathan Prime/Universal; Inset: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
DirectorDanny Boyletells EW he had a similar reaction when he first read the scene inRichard Curtis' script.
“When I read it, emotionally, I was overwhelmed by it,” he says.
“When you work on a movie, you’re very conscious of time.
And I don’t mean a producer shouting, ‘You’re running out of time.’
you’ve got the option to crush time or expand it.
You stop it, you start it.
you’ve got the option to do wondrous things in time in cinema.
This premise is an alternate timeline, and it can show you something wondrous where violence can be defeated.
Something horrible we imagine for a moment never to have happened.”
(To our eyes, he bears a striking resemblance to frequent Boyle collaborator Robert Carlyle.)
To help keep the scene under wraps, they didn’t hold auditions for the role.
“We just talked about this actor and I sent it to him.
I knew him, and I knew he was a lifelong Lennon fan,” Boyle says.
“For him, it was a special journey.
He just wanted to do it to honor someone that was very important in his imaginative life.
“Hamish didn’t meet him until we opened the door,” Boyle reveals.
“That felt very magical.
But none of those scenes made the final draft.
However, he’s also willing to admit the scene might not work for everyone.
“When we tested the film, it’s a Marmite scene for some people,” he says.
“It produces very intense feelings, which is absolutely understandable… “It’s a very affectionate and beautiful portrait of someone that we love.
Wouldn’t things be wonderful if we hadn’t lost him?”
There’s a very profound idea within it.”
Yesterdayis in theaters now.
