How deep is your love for musical biopics? The genre is still a big presence at the international box office, and has seen renewed acclaim with the Oscar Best Picture nominee Bohemian Rhapsody, and the sweet, fantastical Elton John biopic Rocketman.
It’s only natural that Hollywood would start rummaging around in their record collections to figure out which band or performer is the best candidate for a glamorous, wall-to-wall sound-tracked film on the artist’s musical history. And now, for those of us for whom disco never died, a Bee Gees biopic is in the works – from not only the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody, but the studio behind Rocketman.
Producer Graham King and Paramount Pictures have purchased the life rights to the Gibb family estate – that’s Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, the trio of brothers behind hits like Stayin’ Alive and More Than A Woman. Since writing the record-busting soundtrack to 1977’s Saturday Night Fever, the group grossed over 220 million in album sales.
It’ll be interesting to see how a blockbuster film might focus the careers of the Gibb brothers into a streamlined, narrative experience. Especially considering the band’s fierce popularity in the disco era, and its sad news of late: after Maurice’s death in 2003, and Robin’s passing in 2012, Barry Gibb is the sole remaining Bee Gee.
Casting three disco-dancing, falsetto-shrieking actors to play the brothers will be a huge challenge, too. Fingers crossed that the Jonas brothers are interested in attempting a cinematic crossover?
