Martin Scorsese Will Produce Grateful Dead Documentary

A new documentary from executive producer Martin Scorsese about landmark psychedelic rock group the Grateful Dead is headed our way. Set to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the legendary jam band led by Bob Weir and the late Jerry Garcia, the career-spanning retrospective will be directed by Amir Bar-Lev (2010’s The Tillman Story). Bar-Lev has been trying to get the film off the ground for the better part of a decade.

The yet-to-be-titled documentary will pull from a half-century’s worth of footage collected by longtime band archivist David Lemieux, who also serves of the film’s music supervisor.

Vintage interviews, backstage color and live concerts will interweave with new interviews with surviving Dead members Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Phil Lesh, as well as other trippy characters from the Haight-Ashbury scene of late-1960s San Francisco.

“The Grateful Dead were more than just a band,” Scorsese says in a statement. “They were their own planet, populated by millions of devoted fans. I’m very happy that this picture is being made and proud to be involved.”

The band couldn’t be happier that Scorsese is driving the project. “From The Last Waltz to George Harrison: Living In The Material World, from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones, he has made some of the greatest music documentaries ever with some of our favorite artists and we are honored to have him involved,” Weir, Hart, Krueutzmann and Lesh said in a joint statement.

Alex Blavatnik is financing through his AOMA Sunshine Films. Eric Eisner, Nicholas Koskoff and Justin Kreutzmann will serve as producers. Executive producers are Scorsese, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Andrew Heller, Sanford Heller and Rick Yorn.

Martin Scorsese

Source: Hollywood Reporter