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Jerry Garcia Biopic Denied Access to Grateful Dead Music

Richard E. Aaron, Redferns

The Jerry Garcia biopic that's currently in the works has hit a major roadblock, as Grateful Dead productions is blocking any use of the Dead's or Garcia's music for the film. They've also stated that director/producer Amir Bar-Lev will not be granted access to any of Garcia's family members.

"We want to make clear that neither Grateful Dead Productions 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," Grateful Dead Productions said in a released statement. "Furthermore, 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."

The Garcia biopic, which is supposed to chronicle a young Garcia's pre-Dead life, recently confirmed that a script based upon Robert Greenfield's 'Dark Star: An Oral History of Jerry Garcia' has been written and Bar-Lev has signed on to direct. Obviously, without the use of any Grateful Dead music or access to those closest to them, the validity of this project is now in question.

What exactly happened? Book rights are usually sold well in advance for film adaptations, so if the film really was to be adapted from 'Dark Star,' money has most likely already been exchanged for this project. But music licensing can get tricky these days and it sounds as if an agreement couldn't be made over how much the studios would be willing to pay for access to the catalog -- either that, or the Grateful Dead Productions just aren't confident in lending out the Dead's rich source material.

Because of the pre-Dead timeframe of the story, it's still possible to pull the movie off. But it's rather hard to imagine a Jerry Garcia film without the familiar chorus of 'Uncle John's Band' -- that song just screams "montage sequence."

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Bobby

Part of what made Jerry into this iconic persona is that he didn't put his personality out there in an egoic way like Keith Richards or Paul McCartney, and that left him to our imaginations; I think it would be just weird to have a narrative movie about him like this, and I know that it would run the risk of misinterpretations or portrayals that would make some of the people who cared about Jerry feel bad.

He was the only rock star I know of who both remained in the public eye for years and remained a normal guy. According to all accounts (including people I know who knew him as well as interviews with personal friends), he turned most of the suffering caused by being "Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist for the Grateful Dead" inward, and his memory deserves better than this. Thank you for not supporting this project, GDM. I don't, either.

October 16 2011 at 5:17 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
taylorr4208

i think it would be cool to hear DSO in the film, i mean theres nothing like the dead themselves, but if all else fails, DSO is closest damn thing to it

November 30 2010 at 9:35 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
Bobby Jones Jr

Pre Dead can tell us more about the Jerry we had come to
know and enjoy all those years.

August 17 2010 at 2:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
falcon

Let's see: how about jug band versions of Stealin'? Morning Dew? Minglewood? A bluegrass arrangement of Cold Rain and Snow? If we're going electric, a few Motown tunes, Chess blues and quasi-coherent jams? End titles over Dancin' In The Streets...The book covers a period five years before Uncle John's Band was written. I doubt this movie needs Deadcorp's blessing. The story may be better off without it.

August 05 2010 at 1:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to falcon's comment
Doverpro

The book actually covers pretty much his whole life. The movie was going to be pre-dead.

August 05 2010 at 11:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ED

Whew! I was hoping this ridiculous project would get shelved as to not embarrass the great man and band...no one is capable of writing this, or actors playing the parts...

August 05 2010 at 7:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John Doe

could they use DSO recordings instead? That is if DSO would agree. That would be funny if they could get away with that.

August 04 2010 at 10:34 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to John Doe's comment
Doverpro

Whether DSO agrees or not would be irrelevant without synchronization rights from the composer/publishers. And it sounds like that won't happen. Falcon brings up great points - tons of the Dead's material were covers and even PD standards. But without Garcia's recordings it wouldn't be very authentic. Sounds like they're screwed on both sides: Mechanical and Synch rights.

August 05 2010 at 10:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply