We've been hearing rumblings of a Jerry Garcia biopic for a couple of years now, something that makes sense given the Grateful Dead's persisting status as the ultimate hippie jam band. Unfortunately, the movie makers have now hit a major snag: they haven't been able to secure the rights to any of Garcia's music.
Variety reports that Garcia's estate have released a statement saying, "We want to make clear that neither Grateful Dead Prods. nor the Jerry Garcia Family LLC are in any way working with - or are in any other way affiliated with - the supposed upcoming Amir Bar-Lev-directed biopic about Jerry Garcia."
It continues, "We will not be licensing any recordings from Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia's music library for this production, nor will we provide the producer/director with access to any Garcia family members."
As we know from recent successful biopics like Walk the Line and Ray, the soundtrack is key to any good music movie. It's possible that the filmmakers may try to work around the problem by using songs Garcia covered. This may not be such a bad idea, since the movie, which is based on Robert Greenfield's biography Dark Star, focuses on the songwriter's life before the Dead.
Variety reports that Garcia's estate have released a statement saying, "We want to make clear that neither Grateful Dead Prods. nor the Jerry Garcia Family LLC are in any way working with - or are in any other way affiliated with - the supposed upcoming Amir Bar-Lev-directed biopic about Jerry Garcia."
It continues, "We will not be licensing any recordings from Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia's music library for this production, nor will we provide the producer/director with access to any Garcia family members."
As we know from recent successful biopics like Walk the Line and Ray, the soundtrack is key to any good music movie. It's possible that the filmmakers may try to work around the problem by using songs Garcia covered. This may not be such a bad idea, since the movie, which is based on Robert Greenfield's biography Dark Star, focuses on the songwriter's life before the Dead.
