Following bit parts in both Game of Thrones and Bridget Jones’ Baby, British pop star Ed Sheeran is reportedly being considered for a role in Danny Boyle’s next film. Although the as-yet-untitled movie is a musical comedy, it’s unclear whether Sheeran will be contributing one of his Caribbean-inflected songs to the soundtrack, or whether he’ll be solely in an on-camera role.
As we reported back in March, Boyle will be helming the next James Bond movie, currently titled Bond 25. So far, development on the upcoming 007 flick has been conspicuously slow-moving following the 2015 release of Spectre, which debuted to admittedly lukewarm reviews. Hopefully, the stylish Trainspotting director will be able to get the film series back on track. Boyle is writing the spy thriller along with John Hodge, but his mysterious musical-comedy is expected to start shooting before the 25th installment of the long-running franchise. Currently, Boyle’s putting the last polishing touches on his highly-anticipated FX melodrama Trust, which he’s executive-producing and partially directing.
Related: Game of Thrones Director Defends Ed Sheeran Cameo
Right now, the plot for Boyle’s musical comedy film is a closely-guarded secret, although Lily James (Baby Driver) is slated to star alongside Himesh Patel (from the British soap Eastenders) and Saturday Night Live stalwart Kate McKinnon. Producers include Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner from Working Title, along with Matthew James Wilkinson and Bernie Bellew. What exactly Ed Sheeran’s role will be in the film, or how important it will be to the story is currently unclear.
![Ed Sheeran In Talks For Danny Boyle’s Music-Themed Movie](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Ed-Sheeran-in-The-Bastard-Executioner-Season-1-Episode-4.jpg)
Meanwhile, Grammy-winning artist Sheeran has become a pop-culture staple, following the success of songs like “Shape of You”, “Galway Girl,” and “Castle on the Hill”, particularly since he’s apparently hellbent on making the transition from pop to television and film. He’s already made appearances on the Australian soap opera Home and Away (where he serenades Summer Bay residents with an impromptu performance of “Thinking Out Loud”) and FX’s historical drama The Bastard Executioner (where he appeared in a recurring part as a scheming, murderous protégé of a church elder, a performance the Telegraph not–so-nicely called “torturous.”)
Many Game of Thrones fans were less than pleased to see the inescapable star make a guest appearance on the HBO fantasy series last season as one of Lannister’s guards, particularly when Sheeran abruptly burst into a winsome song that managed to warm the usually-stoic Arya Stark to the cockles. Viewers complained his appearance tossed their suspension of disbelief right out the window, although the episode’s director Jeremy Podeswa defended the decision, if only because the character’s description required him to be a singer: “If people didn’t know who Ed was, they wouldn’t have thought about it twice,” he said. While that may be a fair point, the fact is, Sheeran’s detractors are unlikely to be any happier to see him in a Danny Boyle movie than they were on Thrones.
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