Control writer gets go-ahead funding for John Lennon biopic

Most of what the public knows about John Lennon is that of his Fab Four career and post-Beatles life with Yoko Ono; only die-hard Beatles fans—a group that includes this writer—know the little-known facts of Lennon's upbringing in 1950s Liverpool.

Matt Greenhalgh, who wrote Control, the biopic chronicling the tumultuous life of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, is ready to bring Lennon's early life to the big screen.

The BBC reports that Greenhalgh is developing Nowhere Boy, which will be based on a book by Lennon's younger half sister Julia Baird. Baird is the daughter of Lennon's mother, also named Julia (she of The White Album's "Julia" fame), and her second husband. Baird's book, Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon, was released in 2004.

The book details Lennon's childhood before and after his mother died in a car accident in 1958, when Lennon was 17 years old. Although Lennon had been living with Julia's older sister, Mimi, since he was young, he had a difficult time dealing with his mother's sudden death. The event had a profound impact on Lennon; throughout his musical career, he wrote numerous songs about his mother, who greatly encouraged his early interest in music.

Imagine This, Greenhalgh tells the BBC, "took me into a world that illuminated so much about this legendary genius. I could see the drama and film immediately. The women in his life, the men who weren't, the birth of rock n roll; all imposing on a brilliantly complicated adolescent mind."

Nowhere Boy has received £35,500 worth of funding from the UK Film Council, which will hand out a total of £322,000 to filmmakers, reports BBC.co.uk.

Related links:
Matt Greenhalgh on IMDb
Review: Control
Feature: Best of John Lennon's iTunes catalog

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