‘Vinyl’ Director Sara Sugarman Set to Take Over From Jonas Akerlund on Beatles Manager Movie ‘Midas Man’
Director Sara Sugarman is set to replace Jonas Åkerlund on “Midas Man,” the biopic of The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, Variety understands.
“Midas Man” tells the story of Brian Epstein, the man who is considered responsible for launching The Beatles into the stratosphere. He also managed other hit musical acts from the 1960s including Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cilla Black before tragically succumbing to an overdose at the age of 32.
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During his lifetime Epstein was also forced to hide the fact that he was gay due to societal attitudes towards at the time.
“The Queen’s Gambit” star Jacob Fortune Lloyd (above right) has been cast as wunderkind Epstein in the film, with “Outlander’s” Rosie Day set to play Cilla Black.
Sugarman has previously directed “Vinyl,” “House of Versace” and “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” with Lindsay Lohan. She recently wrapped on feature film “Save the Cinema” with Tom Felton (“Harry Potter”), Jonathan Pryce (“The Two Popes”) and Samantha Morton (“Minority Report”).
Production on “Midas Man” started in October in Liverpool before Åkerlund parted ways with the project for undisclosed reasons. Shooting is due to recommence in London next week.
“Midas Man” is produced by Proctor and Perry Trevers at StudioPOW (“Funny Cow”), Trevor Beattie and Jeremy Chatterton at Trevor Beattie Films (“Moon”) and Richard Holmes (“The Ritual”). Peter Dunne, Nicola Pearcey and Mark Borkowski exec produce alongside Twickenham Studios Chairman and co-owner Sunny Vohra and managing partner Jeremy Rainbird.
Jonathan Wakeham (“Misanthrope”) has written the screenplay based on a screen story by Brigit Grant.
The film, which will be released in 2022, has so far been sold to Signature UK in UK /Ireland, Transmission Films in Australia/NZ, ACME in the Baltics, WW Entertainment in Benelux, Exponenta in CIS, Blitz in Ex-Yugoslavia, Metropolitan in France, Eagle Pictures in Italy, Monolith Films in Poland, NOS Lusomundo in Portugal, Mislabel in Scandinavia, Tripictures in Spain and Ascot Elite in Switzerland with negotiations on further territories.
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