Bee Gees documentary 'lucky' to wrap days before pandemic took hold (exclusive)

Watch: Frank Marshall on finishing his Bee Gees doc just in the nick of time

The director of the new documentary about the legendary Bee Gees has revealed that the film was “lucky” to have wrapped just days before the COVID pandemic hit America.

Speaking to Yahoo Movies UK, five-time Oscar-nominee Frank Marshall reflected that the team behind The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart was “fortunate because the last day of the sound mix at Skywalker Ranch in San Francisco was on 10 March.

“So we wrapped and all went to our bunkers and we haven’t seen each other since.”

It was just three days before a state of national emergency was declared throughout the US due to coronavirus.

Read more: Frank Marshall: We'll NEVER reboot Back To The Future

Releasing on Sky Documentaries from 13 December, the film is the first feature length documentary about the legendary band, including never before seen footage of the group.

It traces the career of the Bee Gees – brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb – from their early ballad years in the 1960s, through the 70s disco era and their spectacular success with Saturday Night Fever and their evolution into top songwriters. In total, they wrote over 1,000 songs, created twenty number one hits and have sold more than 220 million records to date.

The film also features interviews with Eric Clapton, Noel Gallagher, Nick Jonas, Chris Martin and Justin Timberlake, among others.

Watch a trailer for The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

Barry Gibb, the last remaining of the brothers, appears throughout the movie, and Marshall, together with producer Nigel Sinclair, paid tribute to his support and hands off style during the making of the film.

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Marshall described it as “a complete collaboration” while Sinclair recalled that “he didn’t interfere. That would have made the film anaemic and boring. We were given complete independence by him and the record company.”

Also a producer on the forthcoming Jurassic World: Dominion, Marshall admitted that working on a documentary during a pandemic was “a lot easier to do than being on the set at Pinewood.”

Filming on the sixth Jurassic film originally started in February 2020 but only lasted a few weeks before being shut down because COVID-19.

It then became the first blockbuster movie to resume shooting by following strict safety protocols, although there were several times when filming stopped again after positive tests, the most recent instance being in October when just a few weeks of filming remained.

The film, which re-unites the original Jurassic Park team of Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, wrapped last month and is scheduled for release in 2022.

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart is on Sky Documentaries from 13 December and on DVD and digital download from 14 December.

Watch a clip below.