Here is your first real look at Thomas Sangster and Aaron Johnson as Paul McCartney and John Lennon respectively in Sam Taylor-Wood’s “Nowhere Boy.”
The two are the center pair in the image (Sangster on the left and Johnson on the right) and are portraying McCartney and Lennon during their days in their pre-Beatles group, skiffle band, The Quarrymen.
We’re not 100% certain about the remaining members of the band though and, as a result of the revolving door that was the Quarrymen line up and this particular image’s quality, it’s a bit hard to say.
The film has been casting locals though for roles in the film. 14 year old Josh Bolt was cast as Pete Shotton, a friend of Lennon’s who played washboard/percussion for the Quarrymen and is most likely the character to the far left in the image; and 15 year old John Collins as Ivan Vaughan, a mutual friend credited with introducing Lennon and McCartney (Beatleologists will flock to this post, no doubt, with anal corrections).
What appears to be simply a bad scan or just poor quality in general, seems to have actually been purposefully manipulated to replicate the look of an old photo. Furthermore, it was found in the “Promotional Stills” section of the Aaron Johnson Fansite.
Scribed by Matt Greenhalgh of “Control” fame, “Nowhere Boy” recently drew particular praise from director Matthew Vaughn who labeled Johnson performance as “ten-out-of-ten.” That plus it’s acquisition by the Weinstein Company and potential late ’09 release may point to an award season threat. Will TWC have rights to the early Lennon songs in the picture? One hopes so. According to an old DailyMail article from February, they were negotiating with Yoko Ono to acquire some tracks, which sounds logical enough, but the Mail isn’t the greatest source in the world. Interestingly enough, the first press release announcing the film by TWC does not mention music rights at all.