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Ed Sheeran doesn’t think his life is all that interesting.
Despite all of his accomplishments and accolades, the 34-year-old Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter can’t imagine his life story as a film or musical – or, at least, not yet. He does enjoy watching movies about artists’ lives, as Eminem did with 8 Mile (2002), a loosely based film that weaves music around the rapper’s life.
“I don’t think there’s been enough [to make a story of my life],” Sheeran says during the F1: The Movie: Behind the Music press junket. “Maybe I’ll get to 70, and there will be a scene or situation where I can look back on your life and pick an interesting movie out of it, like how Bruce Springsteen has done with his new film [Springsteen: Deliver Me] about his album, Nebraska. If I were to do one, it wouldn’t be a biopic, but a movie that encapsulated new songs with [an intriguing story].”
Green Day, ABBA, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Max Martin, Tina Turner, and more have all had musicals centered around their songs. With Sheeran’s massive discography, which consists of eight studio albums, two compilation albums, and 17 extended plays, a story could be built around it. He admits it is something he’s thought about from time to time.
“I think the way I’d want to do it would be to make a movie musical first, then turn it into a stage musical,” he reveals. “So you get two bites of the apple in. I’ve seen friends do that. [It’s like] watching an amazing movie, like Once, be created, then a stage musical of Once is created. It’s two different art forms from the same nucleus. That’s something that really excites me, but it has to be the right thing. You can’t just half ass [that].”
Sheeran has dabbled in film and television as a singer and actor, even once playing versions of himself (Bridget Jones’s Baby, Yesterday, Red Notice). There have been two documentaries on the singer-songwriter’s music process: Disney+’s The Sum of It All and Songwriter. He recently released a one-hour Netflix special, One Shot with Ed Sheeran: A Musical Experience, following him through New York City in a single, continuous take while he performs his greatest hits. He’s appeared as an actor on The Bastard Executioner, Game of Thrones, Home and Away, The Simpsons, Modern Love, Sumotherhood, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He’s written for countless movie and TV soundtracks, including The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Zootopia 2, Ted Lasso, The Fault in Our Stars, Pokemon, F1: The Movie, and That Christmas, to name a few.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pictures
Last year, Sheeran’s song, “A Beautiful Game,” for AppleTV’s Ted Lasso won an Emmy. He wasn’t expecting it as he wrote the song simply because he was a fan of the show. He didn’t make it with the intention of winning potential awards. He didn’t even realize he and co-writers/composers Max Martin and Foy Vance even won.
“I sort of knew it was nominated, but I thought the awards were way later,” he laughs. “I woke up with a picture of Foy with the Emmy. So yeah. I think that’s the way that these things should happen in life. It should feel like happy accidents rather than going into something as the goal of having it. It usually doesn’t work out that way. What will be, will be.”
With his numerous Grammy wins and Emmy, he’s short of an Oscar and Tony Award to join the elusive EGOT club. His song “Drive” for F1: The Movie has been talked about as a possible Academy Award contender for Best Original Song. Though he is hopeful for the nomination, he’s not letting his hopes up after the 2013 snub of his song, “I See Fire” for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Now, he’s just focused on creating the music, and if it hits and is recognized, then that’s great.
“It’s definitely one of those things as an artist that would be cool to have one day,” he says. “I really thought ‘I See Fire’ for The Hobbit might have been so, but it wasn’t. Nothing’s promised in this world.”
Sheeran is proud to have contributed to F1: The Movie’s soundtrack, which he worked on with writing partners Blake Slatkin and John Mayer, and featured Mayer on guitar alongside rock legends: bassist Pino Palladino and Foo Fighters’ keyboardist Rami Jaffee and Dave Grohl on drums. It was a dream rock collaboration for Sheeran. The film’s soundtrack, executive produced by Kosinski and Bruckheimer and music supervised by David Taylor and Jake Voulgarides, has been nominated for a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. It was announced today that “Drive” has just been nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Song.
“I don’t think you can create an iconic song by thinking it’s going to be an iconic song,” he says. “With this song in particular, it might be 20 years when you look back on it and go, ‘Oh, that song’s done whatever it [does].’ You never know. I think what is great about being attached to a movie like this is that it’s good, and people will watch it again and again. So I think the legacy of F1: The Movie will determine the legacy of ‘Drive.’”
Getty Images for Spotify
Though Sheeran could not make a cameo in F1: The Movie, since it was completed by the time he began working on it, he’s down for any cameos for any potential future F1 films – or, honestly, any cameo. He laughs, “I’m not a difficult date. If someone says, ‘Do you want to do a cameo? It’s usually thumbs up [for me]. Whenever that happens, I’ll do it.”
When asked if there were other productions he’d like to participate in, Sheeran is hesitant to share the ultimate movie and role he’d like to be part of, as he’s friends with the creative team behind it. He finally reveals his interest in being part of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth projects.
“I know Peter and [producer] Fran [Walsh] are making something within the Middle-earth world again, and I would love to be a Hobbit,” Sheeran says. “I think I’d nail [being] a Hobbit. I don’t even know if Hobbits are going to be in it, but if they are, I’m your man.”
F1: The Movie is out in theaters everywhere. It will be available to stream on Apple TV on December 12.
