It’s the 4oth anniversary of Woodstock this year, so of course that means time to dust off another attempt at a Jimi Hendrix biopic. This one has been in the cards for years, but has generally not gone anywhere.
Every two or three years the project seems to get some slight movement, an announcement in the trades and then, as per usual, stalls or goes nowhere. The problem is just too many cooks in the kitchen and that doesn’t even include the record labels that control all the songs.
Outkast’s Andre 3000 really wanted to play the rock god at one point, and he would be a fine choice, but again, the project stalled. Quentin Tarantino was once rumored to be circling a Hendrix biopic, but naturally, that turned out to be false. Lenny Kravitz was also once rumored to be involved and if you went back further than the Internet allowed, you’d likely find countless other examples.
Now Legendary Pictures, the geniuses behind such gems as “Beerfest” and “Watchmen” (a film which actually used some Hendrix music in it) are at it. Writing the script is Max Borenstein who wrote “What Is Life Worth?,” a script featured on the 2008 Black List (a “best liked list” of all the unproduced scripts that won’t be released in 2008 as compiled by over 250 film executives). The estate of Jimi Hendrix is heavily protected by his family members, so the Legendary plan is to not even seek approval, but write the story first and then submit to the notoriously picky gate keepers and hope they’ll approve. Why not just play the lottery while you’re at it and bankroll some new pictures in advance?
But apparently the production company has been in loose talks with the estate. We’ll see. Thomas Tull, one of the Legendary heads, also helped conceive, “It Might Get Loud,” the rock doc centering on Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s the Edge and Jack White of the White Stripes, so perhaps that will give him more sway with the Hendrix estate. Variety also mentioned 3000 and Kravitz and note how many have tried, but none, so far, have succeeded in putting on a Hendrix film.
There’s countless Hendrix songs to choose from, but our favorite might be “Manic Depression,” ironically enough because of the Animal-like drum fury. The song is in 3/4 waltz time and the incredible Mitch Mitchell not so much drums along to the song, but practically does a drum solo in said time to the rhythm. It’s outstanding.
The other thing about Hendrix is that classics like “Hey Joe,” should be more than played out by now, but lord almighty if they don’t still contain all the hot molten incandescence of that first listen; a rare, rare feat in any song.