David Farnor | On 19, Nov 2021

Jonah Hill is set to star in a new biopic about the Grateful Dead, directed by Martin Scorsese.

The film will be an Apple TV+ original, as part of Martin Scorsese’s first-look deal with the tech giant, which will soon be releasing the Irishman helmer’s latest, Killers of the Flower Moon. The Oscar-winning filmmaker is no stranger to music, having worked on a number of rock documentaries, including Long Strange Trip, an Amazon original documentary from 2017 that he exec-produced about the Grateful Dead.

This untitled project would be Scorsese’s first music biopic, and makes a natural step for the director and Apple, with the tech giant able to secure the rights to using the band’s music in the film. The group’s Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann will all executive produce, along with Eric Eisner, Bernie Cahill and Trixie Garcia, the daughter of the late frontman Jerry Garcia.

Jerry is who Jonah Hill is set to play, with Hill also producing the picture through his Strong Baby banner, alongside producing partner Matt Dines and Rick Yorn of LBI Entertainment.

The film will be written be The People vs OJ Simpson’s Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, with no word yet on whether they will cover everything from the band’s formation to its present-day incarnation after Garcia’s death in 1995, or whether it will focus on a particular part of the band’s career.

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