February 8, 2006
Jude Law will play Brian Epstein.
In a "quirky, hallucinogenic" biopic of the Beatles manager, who died when he was 32. Do you want to see a Brian Epstein biopic? Do you want Jude Law to play the role? And, most importantly, do you want it to be quirky and hallucinogenic?
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The Hours and Times is about the relationship between Brian and John.
In the IMDB plot description it describes it as a 'fictionalized' account of a holiday in Spain they spend together.
I recall watching a portion of this and I remember the film making Epstein's attraction towards Lennon crystal clear and suggests that they proceeded to 'consumate' those feelings of attraction.
Don't know if this new vehicle will follow the same path, I doubt it, unless this new project is part of some big new 'brokeback' trend.
Rotten Tomatoes has a few reviews here.
Epstein was gay. The nerve of Hollywood making a movie that offends American values.
No, no, no and no.
(Someone had to do it)
I seem to remember there's already been a Brian Epstein movie. Indie flick, gay angle, like a good ten years ago..?
How about Jude Law playing Brian Wilson, quirky and hallucinogenic?
Althousefan: Interesting point. I don't think Yoko has ever been depicted in a movie. (Is it against some religion?) I have a feeling that when she's gone, we'll see some John & Yoko pictures.
I can see why in the past they've stuck to the peripheral characters: we don't have a firm picture of how they looked and acted. But lately, it's been the thing to impersonate a well-known, dead singer for a biopic, so they'll have to get to the dead Beatles soon. I think Yoko has to go before they get to John. So the question is whether anyone wants to see a George Harrison biopic.
I think maybe there was a TV John-and-Yoko movie, which Yoko controlled and which, naturally, was crapola.
Sippican: There's another deity standing in the way of using the Beatles' songs in films:
"In 1984, ATV's 4,000-song music catalog was put up for sale, and Michael Jackson (who had coincidentally been introduced to the benefits of song ownership by Paul McCartney himself) eventually outbid all other prospective buyers for it, including Paul McCartney, who wanted to buy back the rights to the Beatles' songs but was apparently unable or unwilling to raise enough money to pay for the thousands of other songs in the ATV catalog as well. So, for $47.5 million, Jackson acquired the publishing rights to most of the Beatles songs. (The four songs issued on the Beatles' first two singles -- "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I Love You" and "Please Please Me" b/w "Ask Me Why" -- were not part of the package since they were published before the formation of Northern Songs, and the rights to those songs are now controlled by McCartney's MPL Communications. ATV also did not own the rights to George Harrison songs published after Harrison's songwriting contract with Northern Songs expired in 1968, but they did hold the rights to various other Lennon-McCartney songs not recorded by the Beatles.)
Another key point here is that although Michael Jackson receives 50% of the royalties generated by Beatles songs by virtue of his ownership of the publishing rights, Paul McCartney and John Lennon (and Lennon's estate, now that he's dead) have always received their 50% songwriter's share of the royalties for all Lennon-McCartney songs. Neither ATV's nor Michael Jackson's acquisition of Northern Songs changed that, and Michael Jackson does not now receive royalties that would otherwise be going to the Beatles had he not acquired the publishing rights to their songs (except that, obviously, if Paul McCartney had managed to outbid Jackson for the publishing rights to the Beatles catalog, he and Lennon's estate would be splitting 100% of the royalties rather than 50%).
As a closing note, we should mention that Sony Corp. paid Michael Jackson $95 million in 1995 to merge ATV with Sony and form Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a 50-50 joint venture, so it's probably more correct to say that Jackson now owns half the rights to the Beatles catalog." (source)
Yoko not appearing in any movies is probably purely economic.
Not even the art house crowd would be interested in seeing it/her.
Now it might be interesting to see something based around the writing of "Hey Jude" when Lennon's marriage self-destructed and Paul reportedly wrote it for Julian Lennon.
I think it's a bit off base to speak of ancillary characters in the Beatles' story. I'm reminded of the Seabiscuit story, where part of the magic of what happened is that so many people were drawn into it in important ways. Stu, Brian, Yoko, Linda, George Martin ... these characters and many others played important roles, in the story of a group that was much more than just a music group.
But of all of them, Brian stands out. I'm sure Oldham was an important figure in his own right, but Brian was not only fascinating as a person, but in some ways was the most influential cultural figure of the sixties. It is truly incredible and strange that he has been forgotten, to the point where he has not even gotten the call to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This is just amazing. What the hell is going on? Why has this guy, who was so important and influential, been completely forgotten?
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