We are still months away from seeing Martin Scorsese’s first collaboration with Apple, the upcoming drama, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” but it appears the filmmaker is already prepping his next film for the studio and he’s bringing Jonah Hill along to star.
According to Deadline, Martin Scorsese is teaming up with Apple to make an untitled film about the rock group, The Grateful Dead. And leading the cast is Jonah Hill, who is expected to play the Dead’s frontman, Jerry Garcia. The rock biopic is written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who are both probably best known for their recent contributions to “American Crime Story: Impeachment.”
It’s unclear what angle Scorsese is taking with his Grateful Dead film. Obviously, there’s plenty of drama to be mined from the group’s history. The Dead is a legendary rock band dating back to the counterculture era of the 1960s all the way until the death of Garcia in 1995. But even in the decades since, the band’s music has lived on and fans still grow in numbers.
Scorsese is no stranger to telling real-life stories about rockstars, having helmed a number of documentaries on the subject. He’s directed docs about The Rolling Stones, George Harrison, and even two about Bob Dylan. His most recent is the Netflix doc, “Rolling Thunder Revue,” which was released in 2019.
It’s unclear when production on the Grateful Dead film will begin. As mentioned, Scorsese is still wrapping up work on “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which doesn’t yet have a release date for Apple. But considering casting is already underway, we have to assume he’s going to jump right into this next film.