Filmmaker Richard Curtis says his upcoming musical comedy "Yesterday" is "really about" singer Ed Sheeran.
The writer's latest offering follows Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) who awakes from a blackout to discover he is the only person to know the music by legendary rock band The Beatles.
"In a way, the film is really about Ed. Ed was from round where we live in Suffolk and couldn't be a more normal and delightful fellow.
"His girlfriend is somebody he went to school with, which is what the film is about," Curtis told Empire magazine.
The writer, famous for rom-coms such as "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Notting Hill", and "Love Actually", believes giving Sheeran a cameo in the movie was "best casting" because his own life has been similar to that of the central character.
"It is a gimmicky cameo and in a way it is the best casting possible because he is almost the lead character," Curtis said.
The film, directed by Danny Boyle, features Patel as a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the support of his childhood best friend, played by Lily James.
After a freak accident during a mysterious global blackout, he wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. Kate McKinnon also stars in the movie.
"Yesterday" will close Tribeca Film Festival on May 4.
