(L) Jonah Hill. Photo by Brian Dowling/Getty Images (R) Jerry Garcia. Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images.
Jonah Hill has been cast as Jerry Garcia, the late bandleader of the beloved jam rock band Grateful Dead, in a new film directed by Martin Scorcese, according to a Deadline report.
The film, currently untitled, will be released by Apple. It will be written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who handled the script for American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson. Jonah Hill and Scorcese will produce the film, and the Grateful Dead's band members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are on board as executive producers. It's reported that the band has granted permission for their songs to be used in the film.
Formed in 1965, the Grateful Dead became one of the most iconic acts of the '60s thanks to their often-imitated, sprawling fusion of rock and roots traditions. Garcia passed away in 1995, and though the group would disband soon after, many of the surviving members started touring again under the alias Dead & Company in 2015.
