Gas up the van, visit your dealer and get ready to witness a stone groove because Martin Scorsese’s Grateful Dead biopic has found its Jerry Garcia. Deadline has announced that Jonah Hill will play the Grateful Dead frontman in Scorsese’s new film. Scorsese will direct and produce the untitled project, with Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson) set to write the script. In addition to Scorsese, Rick Yorn of LBI Entertainment and Hill will also produce. Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Trixie Garcia, Eric Eisner and Bernie Cahill will executive produce.
Scorsese’s Grateful Dead biopic is happening at Apple, and sources indicate that the band’s management will be involved. Apple also has the right to use music from the Grateful Dead’s extensive catalog in the film, which is bound to please fans of the legendary rock band.
Plot details for the Grateful Dead biopic remain unavailable at this time. Presumably, the film will chronicle the band’s formation in the Bay Area during the rise of the psychedelic counterculture of the ’60s. Commonly known as the poster band for hippies, Grateful Dead’s music was seen by many as a revolt against mainstream American life. During their lengthy live performances, the band would often break into jam sessions mid-song, thereby transforming every show into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear new versions of popular hits. Sadly, Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack in 1995. The band has soldiered on without him in the years after his death, selling out music festivals and inviting all who will listen to take a psychedelic trip down a musical rabbit hole.
Scorsese’s next feature, Killers of the Flower Moon, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Jesse Plemons. Set in the 1920s, and based on David Grann’s bestselling novel, Killers of the Flower Moon revolves around members of the Osage tribe in the United States, who are murdered under mysterious circumstances, thus sparking a major F.B.I. investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover. The cast also includes Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Louis Cancelmi, William Belleau, Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Pat Healy, Scott Shepherd, and John Lithgow.
Are you a fan of the Grateful Dead? What do you think about Hill playing Jerry Garcia in Scorsese’s new film? What songs are you hoping will be included in the movie? Let us know in the comments section below.
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