Biopic News

Almighty Motion Picture has acquired the film and television rights to “Sabu: The Remarkable Story of India’s First Actor in Hollywood” with the intention to develop a feature film and/or limited series. The biopic will cover Sabu’s journey from an elephant handler in colonial India through to his starring roles in such cinema classics as The Thief of Bagdad and Jungle Book.

Brandon Flynn has been cast as James Dean in Willie and Jimmy Dean. Currently being developed by writer-director Guy Guido, the film is based on William Bast’s 2006 memoir, 'Surviving James Dean', in which the author states the two men became roommates, close friends and eventually lovers. Bast penned the screenplay for the more circumspect 1976 biopic James Dean: Portrait of a Friend.

While director Stephen Frears struggles to get financing for his film about the making of Billy Wilder’s penultimate movie Fedora, he is also awaiting a screenplay by Stephen Beresford for a biopic about Chariots of Fire and Ghandi actor Ian Charleson, who died from AIDS. Charleson asked that the cause of his death be publicised to promote awareness and acceptance of the illness.