John Lennon biopic picked up by Weinstein Company

The early life of John Lennon is coming to the screen in a film called Nowhere Boy, and The Weinstein Company has just picked up the picture, currently lensing in Liverpool.

Starring as Lennon is actor Aaron Johnson, who played the young Edward Norton in The Illusionist. English Patient star Kristen Scott Thomas will portray Lennon's fiercely protective Aunt Mimi, who battled his mother Julia for custody.

Nowhere Boy will explore the relationship between the two woman and Lennon, and will also detail the close bond the future Beatle formed with Paul McCartney.

It is said that the picture concludes with The Beatles - or were they still The Silver Beatles? - heading to Hamburg, Germany, where they would develop into a powerful rock 'n' roll band.

The play's the thing

"It starts with the script," says Weinstein Company honcho Tom Ortenberg, who describes Nowhere Boy as "a relatable Beatles coming-of-age story about a young boy finding his place in the world, finding his passion, as his mother Julia introduces him to music and guitar when he's 15. There's something in it for everyone."

The screenplay was written by Matt Greenhalgh (who penned the recent New Order biopic Control), and the picture is being directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, whose Buzzcocks-inspired short Love You More debuted at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

No doubt the folks at the Weinstein Company are hoping Nowhere Boy goes to "the toppermost of the poppermost" - Oscar-wise, that is.