The producer of Bohemian Rhapsody, the hit movie about the life of Freddie Mercury and Queen, is set to take on another set of musical icons: the Bee Gees.
According to Deadline, Graham King is teaming with Paramount Pictures and production company Sister to create the biopic, which has not yet been written or cast.
Paramount has purchased the life rights to the Gibb family estate on behalf of GK’s King and will be able to use their classic songs in the movie. Sister — the venture just launched by Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Chernobyl producer Jane Featherstone — will come aboard as either a producing partner or a co-financier.
The purchase of this rights, means that the band will be able to use them in the movie – unlike films including upcoming Bowie movie Stardust and Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side, which were forced to tell their stories without the music of their main characters.
Paramount just found success making Rocketman, the Dexter Fletcher-directed drama about the rocky formative years of Elton John — a film that had strong performances by Taron Egerton (who sang the signature Elton John hits) and Jamie Bell as Sir Elton’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
The deal gives King another music-driven drama to follow Bohemian Rhapsody, a collaboration he and the surviving members of Queen struggled to make for years. Driven by Rami Malek’s Oscar-winning turn as iconic frontman Freddie Mercury and the band’s tunes and Live Aid set, the film grossed $903 million on a $52 million budget and got five Oscar nominations including Best Picture — and won four — to become the template for a flurry of music biopics currently in the works, reports Deadline
Via The Guardian / Deadline
