The story of the Bee Gees is truly one of the strangest, twistiest sagas in pop music history. Think of it: Three brothers emerge from Australia, singing sad songs in freaky-high harmonies. They get famous, break up, get back together, and get even more famous. Their star fades, but then it returns even brighter, and they become the face of the disco phenomenon. For a while, the Bee Gees become the biggest stars since the Beatles. Songs that they write for other artists become hits. Their baby brother becomes a star. But then the world turns away from disco, and the Bee Gees’ star falls quickly. They keep working. They get more moments in the sun. But two of them die. Their baby brother dies, too. Today, only eldest brother Barry Gibb is left standing, carrying the flame for his father’s legacy. It’s practically Shakespearean. Now, a Shakespearean auteur will tell their stories.

In 2019, we learned that Paramount had bought the life rights for the Gibb family estate, as well as the rights to the Bee Gees’ music, and that Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King was set to make a Bee Gees biopic. Now, Deadline reports that Kenneth Branagh is set to direct that biopic. The film does not yet have a title. Ben Elton, the British actor and comedian, is set to write the script; he previously wrote the 2018 film All Is True; Branagh directed that one and played Shakespeare in it. Barry Gibb will be very involved in the production, as he was in the very good recent documentary The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.

Branagh has had a fascinating, all-over-the-place directing career. He’s made Shakespeare adaptations: Twelfth Night, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet. He’s also made things like the neo-noir Dead Again, and he tried to turn Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein into a gothic romance. In recent years, Branagh has moved on to more popcorny fare: Thor, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Murder On The Orient Express. His big-budget kids’ movie Artemis Fowl came out in Disney+ last summer and immediately earned a reputation as unwatcahble dogshit. Hopefully the Bee Gees movie isn’t just a paycheck gig for him.