Rock star Bono was a surprise attendee at the UK celebrity premiere of Across the Universe, a musical film featuring songs by The Beatles. The U2 frontman makes a cameo appearance in the film - his first ever acting role.
Speaking at the premiere in central London, the singer said he was a fan of the film's director, Julie Taymor, and admired her work in the theatre and directing films such as Frida.
He said: "I wanted to learn from her." The singer added: "The fact she let me go and play with her actors shows she's not 100 per cent sound, but we got away with it."
The film, a love story set in the 1960s, features 33 songs by The Beatles including Hey Jude, I Am The Walrus, and All You Need is Love.
Of the Fab Four, Bono said they "mean everything". He added: "They built the road that bands like U2 travel on."
The cast of the movie, written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, includes Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess, who was at tonight's event.
It is the first leading role for Sturgess, who plays Jude in the movie. He said he was nervous at first, but overcame it early on during filming, adding "I just had to take it from an actors point of view."
"I was nervous at the beginning, but we working so much together as a group, I felt like I was part of a team."
Director Taymor revealed the film had received the blessing of Sir Paul McCartney, after she showed it to him in a private viewing.
"I don't know if I was insane to want to do it, but it was so thrilling," she said. "I was sitting next to Paul McCartney, and what if he didn't like it? "He was very generous and complimentary."
