Bee Gees Biopic Gets New Director John Carney

Begin Again and Sing Street‘s John Carney is set to take over from Kenneth Branagh as the director of the untitled Bee Gees biopic currently in development at Paramount. The Irish filmmaker and lyricist first made a name for himself with 2007’s romantic musical drama Once, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. 2013’s Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo-starrer Begin Again and 2016’s Sing Street continued the run of critical acclaim for Carney, as he established himself as one of the best in the business when it comes to making low-budget musical features.

Now, following Branagh’s decision late last year to part ways with the project due to scheduling conflicts (including an arduous Oscar campaign for Belfast), Carney has been tapped by Paramount (as per Deadline) to take on the task of helming their Bee Gees biopic. The studio giants have also brought John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall) on board to pen the screenplay. Graham King of GK Films, the studio behind the 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, will produce the film, along with a celebrated member of the Bee Gees, Sir Barry Gibb.

The Bee Gees biopic will mark Carney’s first feature film project since Sing Street, after spending the last two years working on the romance anthology series Modern Love. While the Bee Gees biopic may be the first musical project based on real-life musicians for Carney, his undoubted talent and experience in the genre, despite limited resources, show that his appointment will most likely prove beneficial to all parties involved. Paramount has removed the title from their release calendar following the change at the helm, though the film finally getting its writer-director duo could mean that development will start to speed up. A collaboration between Carney and Logan looks like a match made in heaven, and fans of the iconic disco group behind the hits like “Stayin’ Alive” can look forward to a biopic of their favorite band done right.

Source: Deadline