Last year, it was announced that IM Global and Simon Cowell’s Cyco Entertainment were teaming up for an adaptation of Vivek J. Tiwary’s The Fifth Beatle: The Story of Brian Epstein, but it seems that project has fallen apart as Deadline is reporting that Sonar Entertainment has now optioned the rights to the graphic novel and is planning a multi-part TV event series.
The Fifth Beatle “recounts the untold true story of the legendary Beatles manager and his effort to drive the unknown band from playing in a Liverpool cellar to international superstardom. Epstein overcame great obstacles, both personally and professionally, being a gay man in a time and place where homosexual acts were a felony.”
“Brian Epstein’s story is rich in inspiration and is set amidst a backdrop of great cultural change and the legendary history of the Beatles, so an event series truly feels like the only way to do Brian justice,” states Tiwary, who will be penning the adaptation himself. “We’re going to do wonderful things with the extra creative room afforded to us.”
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Vivek to expand his vision to another medium and expose a whole new audience to his riveting and audacious work,” states Tom Patricia, EVP Event Series at Sonar Entertainment. “This story of the man behind the rise of the Beatles will captivate fans around the world and make for a compelling series that is both intimate and epic.”
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Originally published March 10, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
