Ed Sheeran Teases His Next Movie

Ed Sheeran made a surprise visit to the Berlin Film Festival on Friday to talk up the documentary Songwriter, a special out-of-competition entry at the fest which wraps tomorrow. The singer-songwriter phenom, who made a much-hyped appearance in Game Of Thrones last year, and in Bridget Jones’s Baby playing himself, told the assembled press he is prepping for another film next year and that he’s already written the soundtrack.


“I’m going to make one movie in my lifetime,” Sheeran joked when asked about the acting bug. “Well, I’ll aim to make one and if it’s good, then I’ll make another one. If it’s sh*t…”


More seriously, he added he is preparing for a movie in which he is not playing himself — “that would be a bit boring,” he said. He offered no details other than to say he has a “great director” and the “soundtrack all written,” and that the story is based “around an album I’ve written.” Deadline understands the project is the idea stage right now.


Asked about his taste in movies at this socio-political festival, Sheeran said, “I do like highbrow films, but I do like films that people would probably deem a bit sh*t.” He listed his top three as Goodfellas, Cool Runnings and Love Actually.


Songwriter, the docu Sheeran was in town supporting, was made by his cousin Murray Cummings and looks at the Grammy winner’s creative process. Cummings toured with Sheeran for a number of years and always had his camera on.


Documentaries about pop stars including M.I.A. and more esoteric indie artists such as The Go Betweens and The Slits drummed up interest in the rock docu genre in Berlin this year. As Deadline’s Peter White reported, buyers and sellers say there’s growing interest in the genre following the success of films such as Asif Kapadia’s Amy and Brett Morgen’s Nirvana feature Montage of Heck.