The Grateful Dead is approaching its 50th anniversary during 2015 and the event will be marked with a documentary spanning the group's entire career. They ain't messing around either: Martin Scorsese will serve as the producer and Amir Bar-Lev will direct, according to Billboard.
"The Grateful Dead were more than just a band," Scorsese said in a statement. "They were their own planet, populated by millions of devoted fans. I'm very happy that this picture is being made and proud to be involved."
It won't be his first project involving a classic rock group of course. The Oscar winner has done documentaries and live shoots for acts including The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and The Band. The Dead will be a fairly sensible addition to his discog...er...filmography. Bar-Lev is less established as a music whiz. He's won acclaim for his recent documentary work on Happy Valley, on the Penn State football scandal and The Tillman Story, but apparently a Grateful Dead flick has been on his radar for quite a while.
"It's been ten years since I first set out to make a film about the Grateful Dead and I'm thrilled that it's finally happening," he said as part of the statement.
The project is slated to feature previously unreleased footage of the band in action, coupled with new and classic interviews of surviving band members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.
No word yet on when and where we can expect the documentary to premiere, other than 2015 obviously.
