Garcia to Be Subject of Documentary…

The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia will be the subject of a feature-length documentary…

Filmmaker Malcolm Leo, who has previously helmed movies about Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys, will create a documentary about the late part-Spanish guitarist, who died of a heart attack at the age of 53 in 1995. He’ll reportedly build the film around a three-hour interview he conducted with Garcia in 1987.

Jerry Garcia

Last summer, during Jerry Garcia Day at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Leo and his team shot a ceremony that included members of the Dead legacy band Furthur singing the national anthem and a world-record-setting performance of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” played by more than 40,000 fans on kazoos.

Leo and co-producer John Hartmann, who has managed bands like the Eagles and Crosby Stills & Nash, have secured the critical music rights to tell Garcia’s story, something that has eluded other potential filmmakers over the years.

Leo and Hartmann hope to have the film ready by spring.