A biographical film about the life of The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, titled Midas Man, has been completed, with North American distribution rights sold to Briarcliff Entertainment. Briarcliff will distribute the movie in collaboration with Studio POW and American Entertainment Investors. Midas Man stars Jacob Fortune-Lloyd of The Queen’s Gambit as Epstein, who died of a drug overdose at age 32 in 1967, at the peak of the Beatles’ fame. The film is directed by Joe Stephenson (Doctor Jekyll) and written by Brigit Grant.
Midas Man premiered at the 32nd Toronto Jewish Film Festival on May 30, 2024. According to the film’s website, “Midas Man will be the definitive telling of an extraordinary life. The first, last and most respectful cinematic portrait ever painted of Brian Epstein. And one which helps him achieve something he dreamed of in life, but never achieved: to become a star of the silver screen.
Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as Brian Epstein in Midas Man
It continues: “Midas Man charts the life of a man who often struggled to find his place in the world. Yet who is today universally recognized as the creator of the blueprint for music artist management. The figure with a finger on the very pulse of the Swinging Sixties.
“The film spans a period of extraordinary cultural change and convulsion. From desolate streets of wartime Liverpool to the psychedelic haze of Abbey Road.
“The man The Beatles called ‘One of us.’ Our Eppy.”
The Beatles, as portrayed in Midas Man
In addition to Fortune-Lloyd, who has starred in numerous U.K.-produced films and television series, the film also stars Emily Watson (as Epstein’s mother), Eddie Marsan (as Brian’s father) and Jay Leno as Ed Sullivan. The film features Jonah Lees as John Lennon, Blake Richardson as Paul McCartney, Leo Harvey Elledge as George Harrison and Campbell Wallace as Ringo Starr, with Adam Lawrence as Pete Best. Eddie Izzard plays Allan Williams and Charley Palmer Rothwell is George Martin.
The film tracks Epstein’s work not only with the Beatles but other British artists such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and Cilla Black.
Related: Epstein also managed an American group, the Cyrkle
In a feature article on the film in Variety, Trevor Beattie, producer of Midas Man, said, “Brian Epstein lived a brief but extraordinary life. Managing the Beatles was the easy part. He worked selflessly for his artists, always putting them first, often cheering from the wings. He never stopped believing.”
Briarcliff plans to release the film theatrically in the United States, to more than 800 theaters.
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1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationI knew nothing about this, but look forward to seeing it. And…Jay Leno as Ed Sullivan? Yeah, I’d pay an extra couple of bucks just for that.