Jonah Hill set to play Jerry Garcia in Grateful Dead biopic
The biopic will see Jonah Hill and Martin Scorsese reunite for the first time since the 2013 hit film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’
By Grace Almond
Jonah Hill is set to star in an upcoming musical biopic about the Grateful Dead as the rock band’s frontman Jerry Garcia.
The film will be released on Apple, with Martin Scorsese slated to direct the biopic. Hill and Scorsese will be joined by Rick Yorn of LBI Entertainment as a co-producer on the project, with Hill producing the picture through his Strong Baby banner, with producing partner Matt Dines. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (‘American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson’) will write the script.
The film is still untitled, and plot details remain unclear. However, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead have reportedly given the film their blessing, with Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart serving as executive producers on the project.
Garcia’s daughter, Trixie Garcia, as well as the band’s manager, Bernie Cahill, will also join as executive producers.
Whilst plot details are yet to be released, there is plenty of source material which could be covered, given that the story of the Grateful Dead can be traced back to 1965 when the band formed in Palo Alto, California, and the band were active for 30 years until Garcia’s death in 1995.
After Garcia’s heart attack and death, former members of the band toured as the Other Ones, and the Dead. In 2015, the four surviving core members of Grateful Dead marked the band’s 50thanniversary on their tour, ‘Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead’.
The biopic will see Hill and Scorsese reunite for the first time since the 2013 hit film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is also Scorsese’s second project with Apple, following his upcoming film ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons and Robert De Niro.
Jonah Hill’s next project, ‘Don’t Look Up’, sees him play Jason Orlean, the President’s son and Chief of Staff, alongside Meryl Streep who will play President Janie Orlean. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence will also appear in Adam MacKay’s apocalyptic satire, which will be released on Netflix on December 24 2021.