Martin Scorsese is making a Grateful Dead biopic. Scorsese will produce the film in conjunction with Apple. Surviving Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are listed as executive producers, and so too is Trixie Garcia, daughter of the late Dead leader, Jerry Garcia.
Another of the film’s co-producers, according to Deadline, is Jonah Hill, who’s down to play the role of Jerry Garcia. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who wrote the anthology TV series, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, will write the script for the as-yet unnamed film.
Scorsese has often explored his love of ’60s and ’70s rock’n’roll in film, directing documentaries on Bob Dylan and George Harrison and concert films starring The Band and the Rolling Stones. His past biopics include The Aviator, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio as the aviation pioneer, Howard Hughes, and Raging Bull, which looked at life of the boxer and comedian Jake LaMotta.
Scorsese has an existing on-screen relationship with the Grateful Dead, too, serving as an executive producer for the excellent four-hour film/six-part miniseries, Long Strange Trip, released in 2017.
Little is known about the upcoming biopic, but it’ll be Scorsese and Hill’s first time working together since The Wolf of Wall Street in 2013. Scorsese’s latest film, The Irishman, was released through Netflix in late 2019.
