The 'Big Little Lies' helmer reportedly chooses this untitled drama project over a chance to substitute Danny Boyle as the director of the next James Bond film.

AceShowbiz - In-demand director Jean-Marc Vallee has signed on to turn John Lennon and Yoko Ono's love story into a new movie.

Studio heads at Universal Pictures are in negotiations to option the rights to the untitled drama, written by Anthony McCarten - the brains behind the new Queen biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody", and the "Big Little Lies" director is slated to take charge of the project.

McCarten, who also adapted "Darkest Hour" and "The Theory of Everything" for the big screen, will produce alongside Ono.

Deadline sources reveal Vallee, whose most recent movie hits include "Wild" and "Dallas Buyers Club", turned down the chance to replace Danny Boyle as the director of the next James Bond film to take on the Lennon and Ono project.

He reportedly agreed to make the movie after reading the script and meeting Yoko Ono.

Vallee's production partner Nathan Ross tells Deadline, "We are all huge Beatles fans, and this is a dream come true."

"There were inner and outer struggles John had, and family turmoil as a child, and things she (Ono) had to endure before John's tragic death. The thing we loved about the script was its stark honesty - you see so many biopic scripts where you can see that the co-operation of the subject's family had something to do with the editorial, and that wasn't the case here."

Lennon first met artist and musician Ono in the late 1960s, and she became his love and life partner as the Beatles star went from becoming a music icon to a peace activist.

The couple split in the mid-1970s but reunited and were largely inseparable until his 1980 murder in New York City.

"We'll have to make a deal for the music, but with Yoko producing with us, we'll have access to the estate and the library of songs," producer Michael De Luca explains. "I've been listening to John's songs forever, but as we developed the movie, I became aware of just how profound is the emotional impact of the music and their legacy is upon me."

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