Jonah Hill to star as Jerry Garcia in the Martin Scorsese directed Grateful Dead biopic

American film director Martin Scorsese has been confirmed to make a musical biopic about the iconic rock band Grateful Dead. Jonah Hill is set to set as the frontman of the group Jerry Garcia. The musical feature will reunite Scorsese and Hill for the first time since 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

According to Variety, the period of the band’s history which will be dramatized in the untitled movie is not yet clear. The Grateful Dead formed in the Bay area in 1965 and became one of the key symbols of the counterculture upon releasing a debut album in 1967 that was just as heavy on the members’ love for roots music as the psychedelia of the period.

Along with Garcia, founding members include Bob Weir, Ron McKernan, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann. Leagues of “Deadheads” flocked to see the ultimate “jam band” over a period of decades until Garcia’s death in 1995 brought an end to the band. His passing and their breakup did surprisingly little to diminish the Dead’s enduring popularity: Garcia’s songs continued to be played by the offshoot group Dead & Company, which just wrapped its latest tour with a sold- out three-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl. Surviving members of the Grateful Dead have apparently given the upcoming movie their blessing.

Taking to Instagram, Hill shared the news, which was first reported by Deadline Hollywood, captioning his post with prayer hands and skull emoji. In addition to directing, Scorsese will serve as a producer alongside Hill. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, whose credits include The People v. O.J. Simpson, Ed Wood and Dolemite Is My Name, have been hired to pen the screenplay.

 

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It’s not currently known when the movie will begin production, but Scorsese is already well versed in the band’s history. In 2017, he executive-produced a six-part documentary series about the Grateful Dead titled Long Strange Trip.

Best known for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and Goodfellas, Scorsese has been involved in several high-profile music documentaries, from working on Michael Wadleigh’s 1970 documentary Woodstock to directing 1978’s The Last Waltz, 2011’s George Harrison: Living in the Material World and 2019’s Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story.

On the work front, Scorsese is currently working on his next film, Killers of the Flower Moon, a Western crime drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons.

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