Dead blow off Garcia biopic

MAJOR BUMMER: Documentary filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev will have to proceed with his planned Jerry Garcia biopic without any Grateful Dead music or the involvement of Garcia’s family, Variety reported. In a statement, Grateful Dead Productions and the Jerry Garcia Family LLC asserted that they are not “working with—or are in any other way affiliated with—the supposed upcoming Amir Bar-Lev-directed biopic about Jerry Garcia. We will not be licensing any recordings from Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia’s music library for this production, nor will we provide the producer/director with access to any Garcia family members.” Bar-Lev’s film, written by Topper Lilien, is adapted from the Robert Greenfield book Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia, which includes interviews with members of the Dead and Jerry’s relatives, pulls no punches about his legendary drug consumption. According to Variety, the director probably use songs covered by Garcia. (8/6a)