Jonah Hill Is Jerry Garcia in Martin Scorsese’s Grateful Dead Biopic

The
story
of



The
Grateful
Dead,
one
of
rock
music’s
all-time
greatest
bands,
will
be
told
in
an
upcoming
untitled
biopic,
courtesy
of
Apple.
The
company
has
lined
up
esteemed
filmmaker
Martin
Scorsese
to
direct
a
movie
based
on
the
psychedelic
rock
band
with
Jonah
Hill
on
board
to
play
late
frontman
Jerry
Garcia.

American
Crime
Story:
The
People
vs.
O.J.
Simpson
writers
Scott
Alexander
and
Larry
Karaszewski
are
penning
the
screenplay.

Jonah
Hill
is
also
set
to
produce
the
Grateful
Dead
biopic
under
his
Strong
Baby
banner
alongside
producing
partner
Matt
Dines,
with
Scorsese
and
Rick
Yorn
of
LBI
Entertainment
also
producing.
The
Grateful
Dead’s
Bob
Weir,
Phil
Lesh,
Mickey
Hart,
and
Bill
Kreutzmann
are
executive
producing
with
Garcia’s
late
daughter
Trixie
Garcia,
Eric
Eisner,
and
Bernie
Cahill.
With
the
band
and
their
management
involved
with
the
production,
Apple
has
secured
the
rights
to
use
the
group’s
musical
catalog.

This
is
the
first
musical
biopic
for



Martin
Scorsese,
though
he
has
directed
several
rock
music
documentaries
over
the
years,
including
the
Grateful
Dead
doc

Long
Strange
Trip
in
2017.
The
project
will
also
serve
to
reunite
Scorsese
with
Jonah
Hill,
as
the
actor
previously
starred
in

The
Wolf
of
Wall
Street,
a
movie
that
earned
him
a
nomination
for
Best
Supporting
Actor
at
the
Oscars.
Word
is
the
two
have
been
looking
to
work
together
on
something
new
ever
since
and
this
just
so
happened
to
be
the
perfect
project,
with
playing
Jerry
Garcia
an
opportunity
that
was
reportedly “too
good
to
pass
up”
for
Hill.

It’s
not
entirely
clear
what
will
be
covered
in
the
untiled
Grateful
Dead
biopic.
The
band,
whose
hits
include
classics
like “Touch
of
Grey,” “Truckin’,”
and “Sugar
Magnolia,”
originally
formed
in
1965
as
The
Warlocks
before
taking
on
their
much
more
famous
name
soon
after.
For
decades,
the
group
continued
to
make
music
and
perform
live
for
their
ever-growing
following
of
Deadheads.
Sadly,
it
came
to
an
end
for
lead
guitarist
and
vocalist



Jerry
Garcia
in
1995
when
the
iconic
musician
passed
away
at
the
age
of
53.

It
would
seem
that

musical
biopics
have
only
been
increasing
in
popularity
in
recent
years,
in
part
due
to
the
success
of
movies
like

Bohemian
Rhapsody
and

Rocketman.
Earlier
this
year,
Cher
celebrated
her
75th
birthday
by
announcing
that
a
biopic
was
in
the
works
at
Universal.
Meanwhile,
several
other
biopics
about
famous
musicians
are
also
in
the
works,
with
other
upcoming
movies
including
movies
about
Buddy
Holly,
Janet
Jackson,
David
Bowie,
Whitney
Houston,
Boy
George,
Elvis
Presley,
the
Bee
Gees,
and
Amy
Winehouse,
among
many
others.

The
Grateful
Dead
biopic
follows
Martin
Scorsese
developing
another
big
project
for
Apple
featuring
an
all-star
cast
of
its
own.
Called

Killers
of
the
Flower
Moon,
the
Western
stars
Leonardo
DiCaprio,
Robert
De
Niro,
Jesse
Plemons,
Lily
Gladstone,
Tantoo
Cardinal,
and
Brendan
Fraser.
That
movie
doesn’t
yet
have
a
release
date.
The
same
can
be
said
for
the
untitled
Grateful
Dead
biopic,
and
it’s
not
yet
clear
when
filming
will
begin.
This
news
was
first
reported
by

Deadline.