Understanding Brian Epstein
Jacob Fortune-Lloyd reveals what he had to learn about The Beatles manager in order to portray him
“It’s to play Brian Epstein, I’m sure you know who that is,” my agent Alex says down the phone. “Uh, yeah, I think so,” I say, stalling. Not easily duped, but ever gracious, she says: “You know, The Beatles’ manager. It’s a biopic. Production have sent over the full script, two interviews and a documentary.”
I later realise that unless I’m talking to a big Beatles fan, or music head, most people I speak to also don’t know who Brian is. If they do know a little they say something like, “He managed The Beatles right? From Liverpool? Jewish? And gay? He had a tough life.” It reminds me of what Posner says in The History Boys, “I’m a Jew. I’m small. I’m homosexual. And I live in Sheffield. I’m f***ed”.
Reading the script I’m struck by a powerful contradiction in his story. Brian is pivotal in the creation of the most loved band in history. He helps to organise the first live global television broadcast, watching as his boys sing to the world that love is all we need. And yet, in his own life, he struggles to believe that he himself is worthy of love.
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I watch the interviews and am instantly fascinated by him and by his evident discomfort. I start homing in on his physicality, his sound, which also reveal intriguing contradictions.
His voice is soft but steely, fragile but incisive. I can’t detect any of his native Liverpool in it, lost to the various southern boarding schools he attended and to the social and cultural aspirations of the time.
Dressed immaculately in tailored suits, he appears awkward and shy. He begins one interview with his head pulled way back and down, his eyes trained warily on the journalist. It makes me think of a bull facing a matador, or a matador facing a bull. Brian loved Spain and bullfighting, and [author] Vivek Tiwary threads the image of Brian as matador in his brilliant and inspiring graphic novel The Fifth Beatle, portraying him as powerful and captivating, but also lonely, under constant threat and living on the edge.
There are other interesting physical habits that speak of a man uncomfortable in his own skin and with this level of public scrutiny. He nervously licks his lips before speaking, his mouth rests in a tight defensive little smile, his shoulders curl in and down and, for a tall man, his walk feels small, cautious. But he’s no pushover and he’s prepared to be disagreeable. His humility is genuine and he talks thoughtfully of the importance of honesty, and of not being “parasitic” with his artists.
His eyes seem to say the most. There’s a vigilance that speaks of past humiliation and suffering but, underneath, a gentleness. Full of fire and determination, there is also something of the bewildered boy in them, and a unmistakable plea for tenderness. I feel then, and will always feel, that this is a courageous man.
The Arena documentary, The Brian Epstein Story, is a compilation of Brian’s journal entries and memories of Brian from those who knew and loved him. They add to my sense of a man pulled in opposite directions, both from without and within. From a young age, Brian exudes mature self-assuredness and confidence in his artistic taste and talent – he even sells some of his paintings to teachers. Yet in all but one of the nine schools he attends he feels persecuted and excluded.
He develops a life-long relationship with loneliness and a feeling of being “unfit for society to tolerate”. He experiences antisemitism and, from the age of 10, has sexual feelings for his classmates, both of which deepen his sense of otherness.
His sexuality is illegal in the UK up until a few months before his death, and the effect of homophobia on Brian’s life is immense. He is appallingly mistreated by police, beaten and blackmailed by men with whom he seeks pleasure and companionship. The film Victim (1961), starring and produced by Dirk Bogarde, is a huge inspiration, a courageous and humane exposure of the effect of homophobic legislation on men’s lives.
Cast early on in life as an outsider, distance affords Brian perspective, contributing to his unique powers of cultural insight, and intense drive towards shaping and revolutionising culture, and The Beatles will be at the vanguard. He will always be the adult in the room, meticulously organised and impeccably mannered, a taskmaster with almost impossibly high standards at work, where he is called ‘Mr Brian’. But he also has a silly side that endears him to his artists, and he is happiest and most himself in their company.
I cherish the image of Brian at dinner with the boys, smiling broadly, with a chamber pot on his head. There’s a story about his early days of management that I love: that to ingratiate himself with the young rock ‘n’ roll crowd, Brian abandons his suit and tie for leather jacket and polo neck sweater. He is roundly mocked and, at one gig in Bootle, the doorman refuses to believe he is a manager and won’t let him in to see the boys. He can come in, but the suit must come with him.
Growing up in the family furniture store founded by his grandfather, he inherits the Epstein work ethic and business smarts.
But this conflicts with his artistic heritage and desire to get away and, as a teenager, he dreams of being a dress designer and an actor.
In his early twenties, Brian becomes friends with the actor Helen Lindsay while she is performing at the Liverpool Playhouse. She realises he is desperate to join their “magic world” and agrees to help him with his audition for RADA. He has chosen Henry V’s ‘Once more unto the breach dear friends’, but she counsels against it: he is not “a man of action”, his natural qualities are “soulfulness” and “colossal dignity”, and he moves “like a mechanical soldier or a tailor’s dummy”. She recommends a speech by the Duke of Burgundy, who does not need to move around much. Much to her surprise, he gets in, but he leaves after the first year, deciding that he will never be good enough and feeling, as ever, that he doesn’t really fit in.
For me this account perfectly encapsulates Brian. He is a man who sees himself as one thing, but is seen as another. Who feels he should be something, instead of just being who he is.
Who feels too much of a businessman to be an artist, but too much of an artist to be a businessman. And a man who can achieve the unexpected when he wants and believes in something, but is full of self-doubt, and wracked with tension.
I realise that understanding these inner conflicts is key to playing Brian and also key to what makes him the ideal manager. Although only a few years older than his artists, he is responsible for them, enabling their creativity and freedom at the cost of his own. Understanding and respecting of his artists, he lives out his artistic dreams through them and the energy he is unable to devote to his own romantic life is channelled furiously into his work, without which he may not achieve so much so quickly. He may not have been a dress designer or an actor, but his artistic eye and theatrical flair is what helps the boys appeal to a popular audience – Paul McCartney calls him their “director”.
Before we begin filming, I meet Freda Kelly who, at just 17, was Brian’s secretary in Liverpool, ran the fan magazine and who briefly (but glamorously) appears in our film. It’s a privilege to meet her, and I feel closer to Brian listening to her stories and witnessing her enduring love and respect for him.
And there are many memorable moments from the shoot itself, but two come to mind as I write.
We are filming a challenging scene near the end of the film between Brian and his American business partner Nat Weiss (James Corrigan), and before we begin, I’m surprised to find myself quietly asking for Brian’s help. It’s almost like a prayer, and in a subtle way I feel that he answers me and gives me the permission and support to portray him in this emotionally exposing moment of his life.
Our last two days in Liverpool are at The Florrie community arts centre – a stone’s throw from Ringo’s family home in Toxteth – filming the moment the boys sing All You Need is Love live to the world. Production designer Damien Creagh and the art and costume departments have performed miracles; we are all transported back to that moment and Blake, Jonah, Leo and Cam look perfect. With his customary grace and heart, our director Joe Stephenson – supported magnificently by director of photography Bebe Dierken, gaffer Kevin Gibb and their teams – captures gorgeous footage that reduces most of the room to tears. There is an overwhelming feeling of pride that I have rarely witnessed on set and I suspect is quite rare. It is a feeling that carries over into our ‘wrap’ party that evening in the centre of Liverpool, where our very own Beatles play a set, kicking off with Some Other Guy and leading us in song and dancing into the early hours.
I’d like to thank our writer Brigit Grant for offering to publish these thoughts, and for her inexhaustible passion and commitment to the film. And I’d like to thank Brian. I imagine the afterlife has softened you a little, but I suspect your standards are still pretty high. I really hope we’ve done you proud.
Midas Man trailer https://youtu.be/CzDYxAwoUWk
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