Damn, here’s some disappointing news. Remember that recently announced Bob Marley documentary that Marty Scorsese was supposed to direct to meet the anniversary of what would have been Marley’s 65th birthday?
Well, evidently Scorsese has dropped out of the project and taking over for him is director Jonathan Demme (the Talking Heads live concert documentary “Stop Making Sense,” “Silence of the Lambs”).
It’s not horrible news, Demme knows his music (aside from the T.Heads doc he also did the the well-received, “Neil Young: Heart of Gold” and seems to have been tackling a lot of documentaries of late including the positively reviewed “Jimmy Carter Man from Plains”), but we would have loved to have seen Scorsese’s take on Marley since his Bob Dylan doc, “No Direction Home” was so badass and comprehensive. (but with a George Harrison doc on deck and an alleged Frank Sinatra biopic, plus other dramatic features, Marty’s got more than a full deck).
According to Variety’s Set List blog, the film is still on track for Feb. 6, 2010, the 65th anniversary of Marley’s birthday and the doc is still being produced by produced by the Marley family’s Tuff Gong Pictures and Steve Bing’s Shangri-La Entertainment. And like we listed above, Scorsese evidently dropped out because of “scheduling reasons” (i.e. he had too much on his plate).
“I am thrilled and humbled by this extraordinary opportunity to participate in fashioning a motion picture that can serve as a worthy vessel for the spiritual and musical brilliance of Bob Marley, who, most everybody agrees, is one of the greatest human beings of modern times,” Demme said in a statement.
Demme’s long relationship to rock also includes the Robyn Hitchcock doc “Storefront Hitchcock” plus he is currently editing a new concert film, “Neil Young Trunk Show.”