Academy Award winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese plans to direct a documentary about former Beatle guitarist and singer George Harrison.

The documentary, yet to receive a name, has the approval of George Harrison’s surviving family members, according to Variety. Scorsese will produce with the singer’s widow, Olivia, and producer Nigel Sinclair, in a co-production between Scorsese's Sikelia Prods., Harrison's Grove Street Prods., and Sinclair's Spitfire Pictures, says the trade paper.

The Harrison family will provide the filmmaker with material from its extensive archive. Early production begins later this year and Scorsese expects the project to take several years to complete.

“It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story,” Variety quoted Olivia as saying.

Surviving Beatle members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will also participate, as well as the Beatles' Apple Records label.

Harrison, known as “the quiet one” while in the Beatles, and Olivia married in 1978; it was the second marriage for the singer. The two remained together until his death from cancer in 2001. They have one son, Dhani Harrison, 29, himself a musician.

Olivia produced “The Concert for George” in her husband's memory in 2002, an emotional and impressive event that took place at London's Royal Albert Hall. Some of George’s closest friends sang in his memory and honor: Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr, and many more.

Scorsese received a long-overdue Academy Award this year for directing the mob drama “The Departed.” He has been focusing on the world of rock and roll through several other projects as well.

A concert documentary about the Rolling Stones, titled “Shine a Light,” will be released in April 2008. His Bob Dylan documentary “No Direction Home” came out in 2005.

Variety details the upcoming documentary’s content: Harrison's Beatles career and post-Beatles solo music career; his interest in movies when he backed Handmade Films and made pics such as “Monty Python's Life of Brian” and “Time Bandits;” and last, but certainly not least, Harrison’s interest in and passion for Eastern spirituality.

“George Harrison's music and his search for spiritual meaning is a story that still resonates today and I'm looking forward to delving deeper,” Scorsese was quoted as saying.