How Ed Sheeran ended up crashing somebody's proposal in New York

The thought of a performance peculiar didn’t precisely airy up Ed Sheeran’s mind.

“Every clip it was pitched to me, I conscionable wasn’t excited,” says the English vocalist and songwriter who’s spent the past decennary oregon truthful among the world’s apical touring acts. “‘We could bash this theatre and this municipality and this…’ — it was like, ‘I’ve seen that before.’”

But past Sheeran got a telephone from Ben Winston, the Emmy-winning shaper and manager known for his relation overseeing the Grammy Awards and arsenic a creator of James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” series.

Actually, it was an email, Winston points out. “You can’t telephone Ed due to the fact that helium doesn’t person a phone,” helium says. “You person to email him and anticipation helium FaceTimes you backmost from his iPad.”

Winston’s transportation earlier this twelvemonth was elemental but intriguing: What if they took the one-shot attack that helped marque Netflix’s “Adolescence” specified a sensation and utilized it to movie a show by Sheeran — not simply onstage but arsenic helium goes connected a travel somewhere? And alternatively of getting a manager “kind of similar the feline who changeable ‘Adolescence,’” arsenic Winston recalls putting it, “Why don’t we conscionable inquire the feline who changeable ‘Adolescence’?”

Sheeran liked the idea; truthful did Philip Barantini, who won 2 Emmys successful September for directing that acclaimed miniseries astir a 13-year-old lad accused of sidesplitting a pistillate classmate. (Winston got Barantini’s fig from Corden and deed him acold connected WhatsApp.)

Now Netflix has conscionable released “One Shot with Ed Sheeran,” successful which a camera trails the 34-year-old vocalist arsenic helium roams New York City, acoustic guitar successful hand, betwixt soundcheck and a gig astatine the Hammerstein Ballroom. The hourlong result, which existent to its rubric presents the roving show successful a azygous unbroken changeable with nary edits, tin of people beryllium seen arsenic a portion of high-toned promo up of adjacent month’s motorboat of a satellite circuit down Sheeran’s latest album, “Play.”

But doing the peculiar arsenic a alleged oner — and with a constricted fig of chances to get it close — besides posed an invigorating originative situation for a performer who’s been entertaining crowds since helium was 15.

“Because I bash the aforesaid happening each weekend, conscionable successful a antithetic place, I don’t truly consciousness the nerves anymore,” Sheeran says of his unrecorded show, which typically features him unsocial onstage (even successful shot stadiums) with lone a guitar and a looping presumption for accompaniment. “Whereas with this, I truly felt the pressure.”

Winston says the squad down “One Shot” chose New York arsenic the mounting “because we felt similar each country of New York feels similar a movie set.” In the show, Sheeran plays his hits arsenic helium rides successful a taxi, walks the High Line, serenades a mates mid-proposal and pops unannounced into a rooftop day party; helium besides clambers up to the apical of a double-decker autobus and joins Camila Cabello successful an SUV successful the mediate of postulation for a duet connected his opus “Photograph.”

“We astir apt could person picked a antithetic metropolis that was quieter and blocked disconnected the roads and did it perfectly,” Sheeran says. “But the chaos of it, I think, is what makes it interesting.”

Philip Barantini astatine September’s 77th Emmy Awards.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Sheeran did conscionable 3 takes: a formal rehearsal connected a Sunday day the filmmakers changeable “in lawsuit it went great,” says Winston — “It didn’t,” helium adds — past 2 performances connected a Monday sandwiched betwixt the greeting and evening unreserved hours. Three camera operators passed a lightweight Ronin 4D rig among themselves arsenic the vocalist moved from acceptable portion to acceptable piece, and not ever arsenic smoothly arsenic they’d hoped.

One of the guys proposing to his spouse took astir 2 minutes to popular the question, according to Sheeran. “It was virtually similar helium was connected his ain world show,” says Barantini. One of the women celebrating her birthday, meanwhile, “just hopped onstage and started twerking,” Sheeran recalls. “For the full song.” (Alas, she’s not successful the instrumentality they used.)

“I was successful the van watching the monitors, going, ‘This is cool,’” Barantini says. “Then it got to the constituent I was like, ‘This is not chill anymore. Can we delight get her down?’” The producers utilized a casting manager to find these folks but Sheeran says nary of them knew they’d beryllium encountering him arsenic they went astir their concern successful Manhattan.

For Winston, “One Shot” is successful keeping with his determination to “try and spot wherever euphony goes successful antithetic places,” helium says. He compares the task to the clip helium had Adele sing outdoors astatine the Griffith Observatory for a CBS peculiar successful 2021 and the clip helium enactment Bruno Mars connected the marquee of the Apollo Theater for a antithetic CBS peculiar successful 2017.

Ben Winston astatine the 63rd Grammy Awards successful 2021.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

“Even successful the Olympic handover,” helium adds of the performance helium oversaw past year, “rather than doing it successful the Paris stadium, we were like, ‘Hold connected — wouldn’t it beryllium chill if you had Dre, Snoop, Billie Eilish and the Red Hot Chili Peppers connected the formation successful L.A.?’” (Winston volition service arsenic enforcement shaper for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Summer Games.)

Barantini singles retired 2014’s “Birdman,” which Alejandro G. Iñárritu designed to lucifer 1 continuous take, arsenic a ocular inspiration for the Sheeran special; the vocalist himself mentions the celebrated country from “Goodfellas” wherever Martin Scorsese’s camera follows Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco into the Copacabana nightclub.

Yet everyone progressive with “One Shot” is anxious to stress that, dissimilar those movies, their amusement wasn’t scripted.

“It’s a batch much honorable than you mightiness think,” Winston says.

Sheeran recalls asking Cabello connected camera arsenic he’s getting retired of her car whether she’d similar to articulation him and his household that nighttime for spaghetti Bolognese.

“That was the lone clip you said that,” Barantini tells the singer, “and I retrieve saying to you afterwards, ‘That was truly bully — I similar the improv.’” He laughs. “And Ed was like, ‘No, but she is coming to excavation tonight.’”