Kenneth Branagh to Direct a Bee Gees Biopic for Paramount Pictures
Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Orient Express, Thor) is set to direct an untitled Bee Gees biopic movie for Paramount Pictures. Ben Elton is writing the script, and he previously worked with Branagh on the 2018 film All Is True.
Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King at GK is attached to the project. He’s the one who set up the film package, and the film is being produced by the production company Sister along with Amblin.
There is a fantastic documentary on the Bee Gees on HBO Max that you’ve got to check out if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s titled The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, and it follows the group's meteoric rise as they navigate the complexities of working so intimately alongside family.
Barry Gibb, one of the Bee Gee brothers, participated in that documentary, and he is also “very involved” with this upcoming film. He will serve as an executive producer.
Deadline explains that Paramount got life rights to the Gibb family estate, along with the rights to use their classic songs in the movie.
The Bee Gees had worldwide sales of more than 220 million records, establishing them as one of the biggest-selling groups of all time. While Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb first began performing together in the late 1950s with folk and soft rock, their popularity mushroomed after they wrote songs for Saturday Night Fever that fueled the popularity of disco and led to one of the top-selling albums ever, earning them five Grammys including Album Of The Year. Even though the soaring success made them world famous, rich and an indelible part of the ’70s zeitgeist, their position as the symbol of disco put them unexpectedly on their heels when there was an eventual backlash to the whole polyester vibe.
When Maurice Gibb died suddenly in January 2003 at the age of 53, the remaining brothers retired the group’s name after 45 years of work. They re-formed in 2009, but Robin died three years later at age 62 and that has left Barry Gibb to spread the band’s legacy.
Branagh is a wonderful filmmaker, and I think he’s a fantastic choice to take on this upcoming Bee Gees biopic.