I’m curious to see what happens when the two men show up saying they wrote the songs.
It would be so awesome if Paul did a cameo appearance in the movie.
I’d say it’s because the focus of the movie is not on an alternate history. These movies aren’t supposed to be like The Man in the High Castle.
The Invention of Lying isn’t about how a world where people don’t lie would develop. It’s about the character arc of an individual who finds himself surrounded by magically credulous people.
Similarly, Yesterday isn’t about what music or culture would look like without one of the most influential bands in the world existing. It’s about how an individual deals with the massive unearned fame and success that comes from having magical access to that band’s songs.
I’m looking forward to it.
What came to mind for me on seeing the trailer is wondering what the theme song for Live and Let Die would end up being, since I assume Ian Fleming and his novels and the subsequent film adaptations would still exist.
Did they say in the trailer that Wings didn’t exist either?
No, I just assumed that Paul McCartney either doesn’t exist in this alternate reality or is a complete unknown unlikely to have been hired to compose a song for a successful movie franchise.
No need to assume that. Lots of very talented people never get discovered, that could have happened to the Beatles. Or maybe John dies in a car accident and Paul bounces around writing for other people or gets a solo career. I definitely could see McCartney making a cameo as some bitter old behind the scene jingle writer.
Yesterday was Sir Paul’s 77th birthday, as it happens.
I remember a series 2 twilight zone ep where this guy from the future went back in time before Elvis was famous and hitched a ride with him and Elvis died and he ended up taking his place… even to the point where he met his girlfriend as elvis …
That was The Once and Future King, screenplay by George R. R. Martin.
It would be so funny seeing a unknown artist bring a song like She Loves You and have it rejected by the music publishers.
They’d have a dozen suggestions to “fix” the song. 
Completely clueless that She Loves You would launch a bands career to super stardom.
Honest question though; do you think “She Loves You” would work today as a hit? It sounds very old, outdated if you will. It was revolutionary in 1963, but that was 56 damn years ago.
The Beatles of 1963-1964 are dramatically different from the later Beatles. Their music became indescribably refined and timeless; “Yesterday” would work in any year. I don’t know that all their earlier stuff would, though.
Roger Ebert wrote about a prankster who, in the late Seventies, submitted the script for *Casablanca *to a dozen studios, with all the names changed. Most rejected it out of hand; only a few recognized it.
The Casablanca prankster was Chuck Ross. He sent it to 217 agents (not studios). 90 returned it unread for various reasons, 33 recognized it, 8 thought it was similar to Casablanca but didn’t recognize that it actually was Casablanca, 38 rejected it with a variety of amusing comments (“too much dialog”, “weak story”, etc), and 3 actually got interested in representing it.
http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/casablanca_rejected
The same guy did a similar hoax by typing up part of Jerzy Kosinski’s award winning novel Steps and sending it to four book publishers. All of them rejected it, including the publisher of Steps itself. Then he tried again, this time typing up the whole novel and submitting it to 14 publishers. They again all rejected it, one commenting that the style was good (“Jerzy Kosinski comes to mind”!!!) but the book as a whole was a failure.
To be fair any of their early songs would have similarly launched their career, which in the early years was more based on look and other things moreso than song quality- none of their very early work holds up like the better late period stuff- Something and Yesterday would be hits if released today, I Wanna Hold Your Hand and She Loves You, probably too slight and twee to hit in 1969, let alone 2019.
eta: post #51 pretty much says the same thing- sorry (hits head)
Call me crazy but I thing She Loves You is so great it would be a hit no matter when it was made.
I’m a little dubious about the results of this study - I’d say “at least 33 recognized it” while 41 rejected it without acknowledging that it was Casablanca (if I got an obviously plagiarized work in the mail, I’d prefer not to get into a discussion with the (perhaps dangerous) guy who mailed it - a mild rejection without an accusation would seem more prudent), while only 3 give convincing evidence that they actually didn’t recognize it.
I’ve already bought a ticket for opening weekend. I am curious to see how the story handles songs like Penny Lane, where the lyrics reference people and places in Liverpool. (The trailer/commercial for the movie has a funny bit in which Ed Sheeran advises the lead character to change “Hey Jude” to “Hey Dude”.)
So, Pete Best is even less famous in this movie than in real life?
Was it a ticket to ride?
(d&r)
I agree. It’s a perfect little pop masterpiece.