Reader’s Digest UK – July 2019

JULY 2019 • 27

this turn. They begin breezily, but
quickly descend into deeper musings.
He’s easy company, but he’s also
quite clearly a philosopher. A trait
that ekes out again when I ask if his
perception of Britain has changed
since his orchestration of the much-
lauded London Olympic Opening
Ceremony back in 2012. A ceremony
that incidentally won the director a
knighthood, though he turned it down,
claiming it wasn’t his “cup of tea.”
“I don’t subscribe to the fact that
this is a different
country now,” he
answers, decisively.
“What has happened
is that politicians, for
whatever reason, have
chosen to emphasise
something that has
the potential to divide
us. And they haven’t
covered themselves
in glory in doing that.”
He draws out the “o” in glory, that
Mancunian accent satisfyingly in-
place despite years of working
in Hollywood.
“I still have great faith in people.
We’re not that different really. We
like to think [that Brits] have more of

READER’S DIGEST

a sense of humour, or we’re better at

music but [the ceremony was] really

celebrating the potential of people,

and a belief in people. You have

to sustain that belief even though

it’s often challenged by weak or

duplicitous politicians. I wouldn’t

make a very different ceremony now.”

Another thing the ceremony

celebrated was our collective

memories of Britain. It’s a theme that

runs through much of Danny’s work,

whether that’s the world forgetting

The Beatles, Jamal

remembering all

the right answers in

Slumdog Millionaire

or an auctioneer with

amnesia in Trance.

“It’s how we hang

on to our sense of

self I think, memory.

But memories are

not that important

to you in your early

adulthood, I watch my kids who don’t

keep photographs or cards and think,

Don’t throw that away, in 30 years that

memory will mean so much to you! And

you wonder, what did I throw away?” n

Yesterday is in cinemas from June 28

I WOULDN’T

MAKE A VERY

DIFFERENT

OLYMPIC

OPENING

CEREMONY NOW

ROAD RAGE

Fans were so relentless in their ploys to steal “Penny Lane” street signs in

Liverpool that the council eventually resorted to painting the name of the

road directly onto the surrounding buildings.

SOURCE: WHATSONSTAGE.COM