Julian Lennon says “weird” John Lennon scene in ‘Yesterday’ ruined the movie
In 2019, Danny Boyle’s romantic comedy Yesterday was released, which imagines a world where only one man knows The Beatles, subsequently using their compositions to become a famous musician. Written by Love Actually’s Richard Curtis, the movie was a commercial success upon its release, grossing $153.7 million.
John Lennon’s son, Julian, has reflected on the film, which he claims was ruined by one “weird” scene. Although Lennon was murdered in 1980, Yesterday imagines a world where the musician never died. In the film, the protagonist Jack visits an older Lennon, played by Robert Carlyle, who lives happily with his wife.
During an appearance on Hiking with Kevin, Julian told Kevin Nealon: “I actually loved that film Yesterday, until they put that weird bit of an impression of what Dad would look like in his seventies and eighties or whatever, up on a Scottish or Irish island.”
He continued: “It kind of threw the whole film off for me. I didn’t get [it]. It wasn’t necessary for me, I don’t think. And it was just weird.”
In 2019, Boyle admitted that he knew the scene would be controversial: “When we came to test the film, yes, there are some people that don’t like it at all. But other people like it enormously. We call it a ‘Marmite scene’ in Britain. It divides people very clearly.”
Paul McCartney has stated that he enjoyed the film, especially watching it in the theatre: “Only a couple of people saw us. We were in the back row, giggling away, especially at all the mentions of ‘Paul McCartney.’ A couple of people in front of us spotted us, but everyone else was watching the film. We loved it.”
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