An Ed Sheeran Movie? ‘Shape Of You’ Singer In Talks For A Musical

Ed Sheeran wants to cast unknown actors in a musical. Think ‘Notting Hill’ meets ‘Once’.

After selling out arenas across the world, going platinum with yet another album and adding to his growing collection of Grammy awards, Ed Sheeran now wants to take a break from music. The ‘Shape Of You’ hitmaker wants to star in and produce the soundtrack for a movie.

He told The Sun in an interview:

I really want to make a film that I do the soundtrack for and star in, that’s my next thing. I look at a film like ‘Notting Hill’ and I think that’s like a brilliant benchmark, or ‘Once’. So if you were to mix ‘Notting Hill’ with ‘Once’, I would say that would be a good start

When asked about the music for the prospective film, Sheeran said:

I don’t think I will do an album as a soundtrack, but I will definitely put together a soundtrack with a bunch of my songs on it, but I don’t think it will be an album

The 26-year-old has a clear vision for his project. Sheeran confirmed that he is in talks with one filmmaker.

“I would want to cast all unknowns. I want to have low-budget, indie, British-made film,” he told The Sun. The idea is in keeping with the style of Sheeran’s latest directorial venture, which saw him cast students from his old high school for the video of his hit ‘Castle on the Hill’.

Sheeran’s Acting Record

Sheeran is no stranger to being in front of the camera. He regularly stars in videos of his songs. For the videos of ‘Thinking out Loud’ and ‘Shape of You’, he learned how to ball-room dance and box, respectively.

It doesn’t end at music videos. In 2015, Sheeran appeared as an “ambitious and deadly protege of a church elder” in multiple episodes of medieval drama ‘The Bastard Executioner’ (The series was cancelled after one season).

In an interview with the Guardian , Sheeran got candid about dealing with fame.

Money’s such a weird thing. The way it changes certain people around you, the attitude they have towards you, and it changes the people you think it wouldn’t change. Just small things.

Sheeran’s last musical offering – ‘ ÷ ’ – is already the year’s highest selling album. Given that this album is a result of a two-year hiatus from performing, it is easy to assume that Sheeran’s next sabbatical could yield similar results (or so we hope).