Ridley Scott revealed in a new interview with GQ magazine that his planned Bee Gees biopic at Paramount Pictures was set aside following some deal issues with the studio. Variety reported in February 2024 that Scott had boarded the movie, which GQ reports “was scheduled to begin shooting in early 2025” but has now hit a roadblock.
“The deal — the studio changed the goalposts,” Scott told the publication. “I said, ‘You can’t do that.’ They insisted. I said, ‘Well, I’m going to warn you, I will walk, because I will go on to the next movie.’ They didn’t believe me, and I did.”
Scott added that he expects to find common ground with Paramount on the deal and for the project to move forward sometime around September. In the meantime, the director has subbed in the post-apocalyptic thriller “The Dog Stars” for 20th Century as his next project to shoot in April.
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“I was being asked to go too far,” Scott told GQ about the deal with Paramount. “And I said, ‘No. Next!’ They didn’t like my deal. So I said, I’ll move on. I’m expensive, but I’m fucking good.”
Scott’s production company Scott Free confirmed to Variety the director swapped the order of his upcoming two projects and will still direct the Bee Gees biopic in the fall. A Paramount source also confirmed the movie is set for a fall shoot.
Scott said in the interview that a Bee Gees biopic appealed to him because “I liked the working-class side of the Bee Gees. It’s all about competition with brothers…. And then they lose Andy — Andy OD’d at 30. … It’s more about the gift than the luck, right? It’s a fantastic story.”
The Bee Gees movie would also mark a full circle moment for Scott, who flirted with directing a movie for the group at the beginning of his career. The brothers were “refusing to work together” at the time, Scott said, so the group’s manager Robert Stigwood invited Scott to discuss making a movie in attempt to save the Bee Gees. The filmmaker suggested the film be “something medieval” and even met the brothers, who “were charming to me.” Alas, the necessary financing never came in to get the movie off the ground.
If the Bee Gees movie moves forward, it will reunite Scott with Paramount after their work on “Gladiator II” together last year. The sequel has grossed $455 million in theaters worldwide. Up next for the director is “The Dog Stars,” which was originally set to star his “Gladiator II” actor Paul Mescal in the lead role but will now feature Jacob Elordi. The “Priscilla” and “Euphoria” actor is set to play a pilot named Hig who befriends a cranky gunman as they try to outlast a roaming band of scavengers called Reapers.
Head over to GQ’s website to read Scott’s latest profile in its entirety.