Bee Gees biopic: Cast, release date, director and songs of the long-awaited movie

4 June 2025, 11:59

Some VERY big names are working on a major Bee Gees movie.

We are very much in a new golden age of music biopics, with every year bringing a new feature film about a major star, be it Bohemian Rhapsody, Bob Marley: One Love, Rocketman, Back to Black, or even Robbie Williams as a CGI monkey in Better Man.

One film that's been bubbling away for quite some time is a proper biopic of the Bee Gees, and now finally it looks like it's actually well on its way to happening.

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As well as a big name director and experienced screenwriter working on the project, the film has the blessing of the sole surviving Bee Gee, Barry Gibb.

Barry is an executive producer on the movie, which means it will very much be the Bee Gees movie for generations to come.

Here's everything you need to know about the film.

Who is writing and directing the Bee Gees biopic?

After years of murmurs about the film, the Bee Gees movie was formally announced a few months after the launch of 2020 documentary The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.

Developed at Paramount, the first director attached to the film was British acting legend Kenneth Branagh, who has already scored massive success as a director of movies like Peter's Friends, Much Ado About Nothing, Thor and Belfast, among many others.

With the project failing to get off the ground in a timely manner, Branagh left the film, with it being passed over first to Sing Street's John Carney, and then Hustlers' Lorene Scafaria in late 2022.

Further delays meant another new director: step forward Ridley Scott, who has a good relationship with longtime Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood and nearly made a Bee Gees film as his first movie way back when before the whole project fell apart.

Scott is also producing the film, alongside Stacey Snider and Bohemian Rhapsody and Jersey Boys producer Graham King.

It is being written by John Logan, whose credits include Gladiator, The Aviator, Skyfall, Spectre and many more.

What is the Bee Gees movie called?

Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing (encore) (Live in Las Vegas, 1997 - One Night Only)

The titles of so many Bee Gees songs would make an excellent movie name, and the current working title is You Should Be Dancing.

A 1976 single from the Children of the World album, 'You Should Be Dancing' was a number one single in the US and number five hit in the UK.

It was arguably the song that marked the group's shift from their earlier pop-rock sound into proper disco.

What is the planned release date for the Bee Gees biopic?

There were reports that the Bee Gees movie would start shooting at the beginning of 2025, suggesting a 2026 release date, but those plans look a bit up in the air.

"I was right up to the threshold of Bee Gees, and the studio changed the footprint," Scott told Kermode & Mayo’s Take podcast in November 2024.

"I didn't like it... hey didn't like the deal, so I stepped away. I said 'Be warned, I've got another one ready'."

Scott is said to be shooting The Dog Stars over with 20th Century Studios, with plans to return to the Bee Gees biopic later in 2025.

The (new) original plan, shared by Robin Gibb's son RJ, was that shooting would start in September 2025.

But in June 20205, Scott later told Collider that he was targeting a November shooting date. As it stands, we'd say late 2026 is possible, but we wouldn't completely rule out 2027 or even later.

Who has been cast as the Bee Gees in the movie?

No official word yet on the cast for the Bee Gee movies, though we're still quite attached to the very early talk that Bradley Cooper would play Barry Gibb.

We've not even heard a decent rumour about who'll play Maurice Gibb or Robin Gibb just yet.

Given that we don't yet know who'll play the Gibb Brothers, we don't yet know if they'll be singing the songs themselves or go the route of miming to the original recordings.

According to GQ in January 2025, the film "was written, cast, and scouted, and was scheduled to begin shooting early this year" before the latest delays.

"The deal – the studio changed the goalposts," he said. "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.

"I was being asked to go too far. And I said, 'No. Next!'. They didn't like my deal. So I said, I'll move on. I'm expensive, but I'm f**king good.”

Scott said of the cast in June 2025: "I've already got my footprints and handprints, or requests is a better way of putting it, on those names. And no, I can't say who they are."

We'll let you know as soon as we do.

What time period will the Bee Gees biopic cover?

The Bee Gees were around from 1958 to 2012 – over half a century.

That's a lot of ground to cover in one movie.

Many music movies cover the rise-and-peak of a band. Upcoming Bruce Springsteen film Deliver Me from Nowhere narrows its focus to the period around the Nebraska album.

Ridley Scott is being incredibly ambitious with his film.

"It's really about the brothers and how close the brothers were as a gifted family," he told Collider.

"They're really very much a family. I think Barry very much was the leader of them, but then Robin also had the voice initially and was also a very good writer.

"They were a fulfilled team. It is lovely to see this drawn out from scratch. We’ll go from eight years old to the end."

Is there a trailer or poster for the Bee Gees biopic yet?

Exclusive clip - The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

Given that the project has been put on the back burner again we don't yet have a poster, let alone a trailer.

As soon as either is released, we'll put them right here in this article for you.

Will the Bee Gees movie feature actual songs by the Bee Gees?

Bee Gees - Night Fever

Despite the project being pushed back, we're sure that the songs of the Bee Gees will most certainly appear in the film.

The film has the blessing of executive producer Barry Gibb, and when Paramount bought the life rights to the Gibb family estate in 2019, they also nabbed the rights to the Bee Gees back catalogue.

As for what songs will be included, we'll make a fair guess that 'You Should Be Dancing' is a lock, as are the likes of 'Stayin' Alive', 'Night Fever', 'Tragedy', 'Words' and 'How Deep Is Your Love?'.