Ed Sheeran has said he very nearly wrote the theme song for No Time to Die.
The singer claimed that he was initially hired to write the track for Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 in the 2021 film.
During a recent appearance on That Peter Crouch Podcast, Sheeran 31, said that he had already begun writing the ballad when production changed direction and Billie Eilish was tapped to write it instead.
“I was within a f***ing gnat’s pube of doing one,” Sheeran said on the prospect of writing a Bond theme.
“They changed directors, and when they just changed scripts, and that was it. But had done all the meetings. I had started writing it.”
Eilish went on to win an Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy award for “No Time To Die”, which she co-wrote her brother Finneas O’Connell.
The “Shape of You” singer said that it “hurt” to be passed over, but that he was still interested in writing a Bond theme song.
“You’ve got to – eventually, as an English singer – want to do a Bond song,” Sheeran said. “I’m not going pretend it didn’t hurt not doing it. If they come back, I’ll be like, ‘Yeah yeah, of course.’”
Earlier this month, James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli recalled her “distressing” meeting with Amy Winehouse.
The pair met in 2008 to discuss the possibility of Winehouse writing a ballad for the 007 franchise. Her song was meant to feature in Quantum of Solace, which also starred Craig.
