Beatles manager Brian Epstein gets film treatment

Brian Epstein, the man who managed the Beatles, and was famously rumoured to have had at least one homosexual encounter with John Lennon, is to be given the biopic treatment in a film chronicling the early days of the group and their attempts to crack the big time.

The film will be based on Tony Gittelson's screenplay A Life in the Day, bought by US producer David Permut, and focuses on the man who 'discovered' the Fab Four in 1961 and became their guiding light until 1967, when he died of a drug overdose aged 32.

It is not clear if the film deals with Epstein's sexuality. The Beatles were aware that he was gay, and although he acted as Lennon's best man when he married Cynthia Powell in 1962 and was godfather to his son Julian, there have always been rumours that he had an affair with Lennon.

Epstein (pictured above, far right, with the Beatles), who sold records from his father's store in Liverpool, first heard the Beatles at the Cavern Club while on his lunch break. He became a huge fan and helped fashion them into the Fab Four after working tirelessly to secure them a record deal.

Permut said: "Everybody turned down the band, even though Brian promised they would become bigger than Elvis, and he finally got George Martin at EMI to change his mind and give them an audition."

News of the deal comes only weeks before another Beatles-related biopic gets its premiere. Sam Taylor-Wood's much-anticipated directorial debut Nowhere Boy, about John Lennon, is expected to be one of the highlights of the BFI London Film Festival in October.

Although it is more than 40 years since their heyday, The Beatles remain as popular as ever and the iconic band's profile is set to receive a boost thanks to the release of digitally-remastered versions of their studio albums next month and the launch of "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game.

In addition to the Epstein film and Taylor-Wood's Lennon biopic, Disney and Robert Zemeckis are in negotiations to remake Yellow Submarine in 3-D. ·