In news likely to be followed by the greenlighting of “Medellin” and “Aquaman,” Fox Searchlight are negotiating to pick up a biopic of The Ramones, based on the book “I Slept With Joey Ramone.” The memoir, to be published in December, is a collaboration between Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh, and punk writer Legs McNeil, and looks at the life of the influential band, whose members Johnny, Joey, Tommy and Dee Dee had a fraught history full of infighting, addiction and health problems.
The project was set up by former “Everybody Loves Raymond” producer Rory Rosegarten, who owns both the rights to Leigh and McNeil’s book, and, crucially, the band’s music, an issue which often cripples musical biopics. The rights issues are tricky, so the deal’s not quite done, and there doesn’t seem to be any talent attached, but it seems to be in the right home, at least – Fox Searchlight is less likely to force the band’s story into the “Walk The Line”/”Ray” template. Although, now that we think about it, the studio was behind the mediocre “Notorious” earlier this year…
Nevertheless, if the studio can capture the passion of the recent documentary “End of the Century,” or even just the energy of cult classic “Rock N Roll High School,” they might have something going here.
