Fans are so excited for Jonah Hill’s forthcoming portrayal of Jerry Garcia that they believe there could be a distant whiff of an Oscar – not least because he’s managed to get one of Hollywood’s biggest names in to direct.
The untitled biopic about Garcia's band the Grateful Dead will see Hill step in to play the iconic frontman, and he'll also be producing through his Strong Baby banner alongside business partner Matt Dines.
None other than Martin Scorsese will serve as director, having famously worked with Hill on The Wolf of Wall Street.
After the project was announced in November, many people flocked to social media to express how 'excited' they were for the movie, with some even speculating that the project could well land Hill an Oscar.
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"Could this mean an Oscar for Jonah?" one tweeted.
Someone else wrote: "Scorsese + @JonahHill as Jerry Garcia is an Oscar starter pack."
A third added: "Jonah Hill as Jerry Garcia is old testament god level casting."
Hill appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon earlier this month, explaining how the idea came about.
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The star said he had just started Strong Baby Productions when a flash of inspiration came to him while scrolling through social media.
“I’m on Instagram, Covid just started, we’re all stuck in our houses,” he recalled.
“And I see this picture of Jerry Garcia when he’s young, and I’m like, ‘Wow, why has nobody done this? Why hasn’t anyone made a movie? I could play Jerry Garcia.’
“And then I spent the next hour and a half talking myself out of it, being like, ‘Don’t show anyone this. Don’t say this. You’re gonna sound insane. You’re not good enough. You’re not this. You’re not that.’ And, you know, ‘He’s an icon and that’s just a picture.’
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"And I finally did the work in my head to go, ‘No, share it with the people you work with.’"
Hill sent the concept to folk at his company, along with his manager Rick, who all told him it was a 'great idea'.
He continued: "And then Rick manages Martin Scorsese, and we worked together on Wolf of Wall Street, and he said, ‘You know who would love this is Martin Scorsese.’
"And my partner Matt and I were like, ‘Yeah, for sure. That sounds great... I bet he’ll like it a lot.’
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"And we’re like, ‘What is happening?’
"And then Marty said yes, he wanted to direct a movie about the Grateful Dead with me playing Jerry Garcia."
He added: "It goes [from] ‘I shouldn’t even send this because I am not valuable enough to even express an idea’ to having your hero direct a movie about your other hero. And so it’s a beautiful story."
Hill also confirmed that the writing team were already working hard on the script, saying his 'favourite writers' - Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski - were 'writing it now'.
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"It’s exciting," he said.
"Let’s hope it works out."
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: TV and Film, Jonah Hill
