Bee Gees biopic on cards, Paramount Pictures buys out rights to the band's songs

Los Angeles, Nov 1 (IANS): Graham King, the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody - the hit movie about the life of Freddie Mercury and his band Queen - is set to take on another set of musical icons, the Bee Gees.

According to Deadline, King is teaming with Paramount Pictures and production company Sister to create the Bee Gees biopic, which has not yet been written or cast, reports said.

Paramount has purchased the rights to the Bee Gees songs on behalf of King, and will therefore be able to use them in the movie - unlike films including upcoming Bowie movie Stardust and Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side, which were forced to tell their stories without the music of their main characters.

The Bee Gees story has the requisite ups and downs: The three eldest Gibb brothers hustled up a career first in Australia, and then in UK via Beatles manager Brian Epstein, before breaking through in the US in the late 1960s.

Their memorable songs include Stayin' alive, Saturday night fever, More than a woman and How deep is your love, which soundtracked the smash-hit 1977 film, Saturday Night Fever.

These are hits that define the disco era. They had six successive No 1 singles in the US in less than two years.