Grateful Dead Biopic In The Works

by Kane Jamison on Nov 6, 08

in News

Home Before Daylight

According to the Rock n’ Roll Daily blog over at Rolling Stone, the upcoming movie based upon roadie Steve Parish’s book, Home Before Daylight, is starting to take shape.  Though first announced in summer 2007, Rock Daily reports that the movie has some potential actors on board as well as a preliminary soundtrack:

The Grateful Dead biopic adapted from Home Before Daylight already has a shortlist of hot directors including Oliver Stone, Sean Penn, Jonathan Demme and Larry Charles. “Those are the guys that would really knock it out of the park,” producer Stephen Emery tells Rock Daily.

Several musicians, including Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have already signed on for the soundtrack, with guitarist Bob Weir as the music director. “I’m very proud to have Bob on board,” says Emery. “He wants to write new stuff for the film, too.”

While I read Phil Lesh’s Searching For The Sound, I haven’t had a chance to plug through Home Before Daylight.  Anybody think it’s a good adaptation for the screen?  I’m wondering how they’re going to integrate the live Dead experience into the movie in a realistic fashion, and how much this movie is going to focus on Jerry’s health/drug problems through the 80′s and into the 90′s.  It should make for an interesting piece; let’s hope they treat it with the respect it deserves.

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  • Mike S.

    Searching for Sound was great, Phil really gives a great perspective on the whole saga and he is a great storyteller. I also haven’t gotten to Parish’s book, so I can’t offer a clear opinion, but if those are the directors for the adaptation, I think it could be a worthwhile venture.

  • Mike S.

    Searching for Sound was great, Phil really gives a great perspective on the whole saga and he is a great storyteller. I also haven’t gotten to Parish’s book, so I can’t offer a clear opinion, but if those are the directors for the adaptation, I think it could be a worthwhile venture.

  • http://www.burningoak.com Kane

    Same here, Mike, Searching for the Sound was great in my opinion, and it was interesting to read Lesh’s opinion of the progression of the band and his relationship with Jerry. I reread the first article and it seems that the roadie was with the band from ’67 to the late 70′s, and he was quoted as saying he didn’t want to focus on a lot of the later drug problems Jerry had,e tc., and that he wanted to focus on the music, the band, the scene, and the culture. Which, as we all know, is the part of the movie that would really ring true to fans. Anyways, I just hope it’s done tastefully, regardless of the approach they take.

  • http://www.burningoak.com Kane

    Same here, Mike, Searching for the Sound was great in my opinion, and it was interesting to read Lesh’s opinion of the progression of the band and his relationship with Jerry. I reread the first article and it seems that the roadie was with the band from ’67 to the late 70′s, and he was quoted as saying he didn’t want to focus on a lot of the later drug problems Jerry had,e tc., and that he wanted to focus on the music, the band, the scene, and the culture. Which, as we all know, is the part of the movie that would really ring true to fans. Anyways, I just hope it’s done tastefully, regardless of the approach they take.

  • Wobblies

    All I can say is that I hope to god they cast Jim Carey as Bob Weir… the resemblance is uncanny.

  • Wobblies

    All I can say is that I hope to god they cast Jim Carey as Bob Weir… the resemblance is uncanny.

  • VJ

    “Several musicians, including Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have already signed on for the soundtrack, with guitarist Bob Weir as the music director.

    AWESOME!

    “I’m very proud to have Bob on board,” says Emery. “He wants to write new stuff for the film, too.”

    UGH! Does he have to? Why can’t the 100s and 100s of Dead songs be called on. Really new music from Bob “Ace” Weir?

    (To the tune of Corrina”

    VElveeeeetaa…cheese it up Bobby!

  • VJ

    “Several musicians, including Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have already signed on for the soundtrack, with guitarist Bob Weir as the music director.

    AWESOME!

    “I’m very proud to have Bob on board,” says Emery. “He wants to write new stuff for the film, too.”

    UGH! Does he have to? Why can’t the 100s and 100s of Dead songs be called on. Really new music from Bob “Ace” Weir?

    (To the tune of Corrina”

    VElveeeeetaa…cheese it up Bobby!

  • alexb

    nothing like a grateful dead movie to stir up emotion, hey tomorrow im gonna send the words for that headcount article to get posted on the interweb, if you still gonna use it just post it before then.

  • alexb

    nothing like a grateful dead movie to stir up emotion, hey tomorrow im gonna send the words for that headcount article to get posted on the interweb, if you still gonna use it just post it before then.

  • Matt

    Parish actually continued on as Garcia’s roadie/assistant for side projects up through the end.

    Home Before Daylight was an interesting quick read, but it was very much a third-party perspective on the band, and focused too much on Jerry’s problems. By far the best history of the band is A Long Strange Trip by Dennis McNally, but the scope of that is too large for a film.

  • Matt

    Parish actually continued on as Garcia’s roadie/assistant for side projects up through the end.

    Home Before Daylight was an interesting quick read, but it was very much a third-party perspective on the band, and focused too much on Jerry’s problems. By far the best history of the band is A Long Strange Trip by Dennis McNally, but the scope of that is too large for a film.

  • Mark

    are we down to one post a week now?

  • Mark

    are we down to one post a week now?

  • Steve

    I have to say Parish’s book is a must read as I just finished it today. What a great retrospective experience. Parish takes you through a life of an ordinary person realizing the true American dream of becoming part of the GD family. I have to say that Parish had a through understanding of Jerry from beginning to end. Thanks Steve for sharing your life experience with us. I recommend leaving the book alone as no movie in my opinion can depict the details which are part of this epic experience.

  • Steve

    I have to say Parish’s book is a must read as I just finished it today. What a great retrospective experience. Parish takes you through a life of an ordinary person realizing the true American dream of becoming part of the GD family. I have to say that Parish had a through understanding of Jerry from beginning to end. Thanks Steve for sharing your life experience with us. I recommend leaving the book alone as no movie in my opinion can depict the details which are part of this epic experience.

  • http://www.freesheetmusic.net Joey

    I hate to be the skeptical one — but a good book doesn’t mean it’ll be a good movie. Once a great story gets the Hollywood treatment, the good parts get left out, the bad parts get exaggerated, and fictional parts get added to “make the story better”. Not saying a real move about the Dead wouldn’t be a treat, just don’t have great expectations once it gets “adapted” for the screen.

  • http://www.freesheetmusic.net Joey

    I hate to be the skeptical one — but a good book doesn’t mean it’ll be a good movie. Once a great story gets the Hollywood treatment, the good parts get left out, the bad parts get exaggerated, and fictional parts get added to “make the story better”. Not saying a real move about the Dead wouldn’t be a treat, just don’t have great expectations once it gets “adapted” for the screen.

  • Ben

    The book is a great read and I recommend it to everyone who hasn’t read it yet, to do so. I could not put the book down. Glad to hear they are making it into a movie. Word up.

    Ben

  • Ben

    The book is a great read and I recommend it to everyone who hasn’t read it yet, to do so. I could not put the book down. Glad to hear they are making it into a movie. Word up.

    Ben

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