This summer, director Danny Boyle and writer Richard Curtis provided the world with a romantic-comedy hit in Yesterday. In their quest to make the film a well-paced exercise in comedy and emotion, some moments were cut from the film for time and content. A lot of those moments will be included in the film’s physical release, and we’re about to share one where a particular gag sees the classic song “She Loves You” turned into an ad for an ice cream parlor.
Take a look for yourself, below:
In this scene, Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) just can’t find his way to making what he proclaims as one of the greatest songs in the world into an ad for ice cream products. To be fair, when John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song for release in 1963, one of the things they most assuredly weren’t thinking about was the brand of Nutter’s Ice Cream.
But then again, in Yesterday’s world where The Beatles don’t exist as a musical group, that song hasn’t been written at all. Still, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” would be an easier fit if you really want to get the job done. It’s funny to be exercising in this example of editing, as that very profession seems to be the best friend to this specific film.
In its various creative phases, Yesterday has been known to have gone through some significant story changes in its road to the silver screen. Not only did Danny Boyle have a specific stipulation that Richard Curtis had to re-write about 25% of the script to get him to sign on, but there was also an entire character and subplot that were deleted to make the overall romance between Jack and Lily James’ character, Ellie, more satisfying.
With the “She Loves You”/Nutter’s Ice Cream scene cut from the film, you could assume there’s two big reasons it was axed from the final cut. First of all, it feels like a gag that stops the movie in its place for a good several minutes, just so a simple joke can be told.
Second, and more importantly, the journey of Himesh Patel’s character, as well as his proclamation that these songs are the best ever written in the world, are already well stated in the film’s current form. Rather than reinforce the running gag, this particular moment feels like a redundancy that can easily be removed in the first draft of editing.
That’s not to say the “Nutter’s Ice Cream” scene from Yesterday isn’t worth watching, otherwise it wouldn’t have been released to promote the film. Himesh Patel and Lily James are both still really funny in this particular moment, with the big win going to James’ Ellie as she tells off the corporate goon that’s tasked with getting this jingle in the can.
With its history of being fine tuned into a product that won over fans and critics alike this summer, being able to watch Yesterday’s 12 deleted scenes is a great way to see just how much of the film had to be tinkered with to turn it into the hit it is now. Not to mention, there’s also an alternate opening and closing for the film, that’ll fit nicely into that same intent.
Or you could just watch Yesterday the way it was intended, in its theatrical cut. The choice is yours, but with a scene like that, you know you should give it a chance.
Yesterday is now available on Digital HD, as well as 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD.
