Richard Curtis – Part Two

This month a new film by the award-winning screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually) will be launched in cinemas across the world. ‘Yesterday’ is inspired by the music of the Beatles and although the germ of the idea was not his, the story, its construction and the characters created are all Richard Curtis originals.

Yasmeen Khan has been talking to Richard as the film developed over the last two years with the various drafts shaped, reshaped and edited. In this, the second of a special two-part In The Studio, Yasmeen joins Richard on the film set as the words he’s worked on so carefully are brought to life by actors and the Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle. Yet even here there’s a role for the writer as tweaks and changes are made during filming as the raw material of the screenplay becomes the digital material ready for editing. Yasmeen also joins Richard as the film gets its first trial screening in preparation for its release.

Presented by Yasmeen Khan. Produced by Tom Alban for the BBC World Service

(Image: screenwriter Richard Curtis, with kind permission)