Jack Barth, who wrote the script that served as the inspiration for the 2019 musical comedy Yesterday, has accused the filmmaker Richard Curtis of “taking credit for everything”.
In an interview with Uproxx, Barth recalled his elation with selling the rights to his first feature screenplay at the age of 62. His script, titled Cover Version, revolved about a struggling musician who discovers he is the only person on Earth to remember the music of The Beatles. Yesterday, which features an identical premise, would go on to star Himesh Patel, Lily James and Ed Sheeran.
Barth was given a “story by” credit on the eventual film, along with Curtis, whereas Curtis himself was solely credited with writing the film’s screenplay.
In several interviews, Curtis has claimed that he had only heard the basic premise of Barth’s script. “I had the one sentence [description], then said ‘I don’t want any more information’, because I sometimes found when I worked with original material that it doesn’t come from the heart,” the Love Actually writer told Den of Geek.
He also told Slash Film that he had written the screenplay in response to a “one lined thesis”, and said to The Wall Street Journal: “When I wrote my version I hadn’t actually read Jack’s; that was the deal.”
However, Barth points to several plot points in Cover Version that also occur in Yesterday, including the protagonist having a relationship with his bandmate. Both scripts also feature an elderly John Lennon living out his life as a fisherman in Liverpool.
Yesterday’s closing gag, in which it is revealed that no one recalls Harry Pottereither, also appears in Barth’s script. Curtis, however, has stated in interviews that the line was given to him by comedian Sarah Silverman.
“This is why I’m so upset,” Barth said. “This is why I actually feel like Richard has damaged me financially. I write and say, ‘I’m the guy who created the film Yesterday,’ and they look and they go, ‘No, you’re not, that’s a Richard Curtis movie, you moron.’”
The Independent has contacted Curtis’s representatives for comment.
