The film is based on “Imagine This,” a memoir written by Julia Baird, Lennon’s half sister, according to a press release posted by Variety. Matt Greenhalgh, who wrote the Joy Division biopic “Control,” is writing the screenplay with Sam Taylor-Wood in the director’s chair.

Here’s what the flick is all about, according to a statement by TWC:

“John Lennon is an ordinary fifteen year old boy on the streets of Liverpool. Funny, smart, naughty, a real edge to him. But life is not simple for John – he grew up in a family of secrets and was raised by his Aunt Mimi from the age of five. When he is suddenly reacquainted with his mother, Julia, they form an unbreakable bond. A bitter war rages between the two sisters for John’s love. Faced with bringing it to an end, he learns the secret heartbreak of his past. But his mother gives him one great gift – music. A wayward boy finds his voice, and walks into The Beatles.”

The film follows Lennon until the Beatles leave Liverpool, U.K., for Germany.

Aaron Johnson stars as the young Lennon and Kristin Scott Thomas portrays his aunt.

Principal photography kicked off March 8 in Liverpool and at Ealing Studios in London. The film is expected to be released by the end of the year.

In other Beatles news, you can now prove that you know more about the Fab Four than friends and family by earning your masters in “The Beatles, Popular Music and Society.”

Liverpool Hope University is offering the MA program to a maximum of 30 people in four 12-week courses, according to the U.K.’s Guardian. Students will study the Beatles’ compositions and cultural impact as well as the postwar music industry and subculture. The course begins this September.

“If popular music is about anything, it’s about people,” Mike Brocken, who is directing the program at the university, said. “If we look at popular culture, it simply provides us with a very complex mirror of ourselves.”

Read the Variety article here.

Read the AP article here.

Read the Guardian article here.