What Happened To All Those Bob Marley Films That Were Once Planned?
Almost 30 years after his death, we still have yet to see a theatrically-released biopic or documentary based on the life of Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley.
There have been a number of attempts over that last 11 years that either eventually died, or stalled, for one reason or another. So, what happened to all of them?
Let’s take a look shall we…?
First, there was the 1999 Warner Bros. project which was to be based on Timothy White’s 1998 novel Catch A fire: The Life of Bob Marley; the film was to star Bob Marley’s son Rohan (as Bob) and Lauryn Hill (as Rita Marley), but nothing ever materialized.
7 years later, in 2006, Jamie Foxx (of all people) was said to be starring as Bob Marley in a biopic that was to be directed by French-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb, which was reportedly conceived by Rita Marley. As an aside, long-time readers of this blog will recognize Rachid Bouchareb’s name, as it’s come up a number of times – notably, his latest film, Hors La Loi (Outside The Law) caused quite a stir at this year’s Cannes Film Festival; also, recall his announced plans last year for an Angela Davis biopic which he was reportedly courting Beyonce to star in? Based on that, as well as his choice of Jamie Foxx to play Bob marley, I have to wonder about this fellow’s knack (or lack there of) for casting; really – Jamie Foxx as Bob Marley? Can’t see it. Can you imagine Jamie with Marley’s locks, putting on a proper Jamaican accent? It’ll probably resemble something closer to an In Living Color skit. As for Beyonce as Angela Davis… well, need I say more. Bouchareb did also direct London River and Little Senegal – both featured on this blog as well, but I’ve yet to see. None of them is available here in the states yet. In fact, not many of his films are.
But back to the Marley timeline… roughly 2 years after Bouchareb’s biopic was announced, in March 2008, the project died. Why? Music rights. You see, a month prior, February 2008, Martin Scorsese announced his plans to produce a documentary on Bob Marley’s life, and he had already licensed Marley’s music, which, somehow, Bouchareb and company hadn’t properly done. Eventually, along with the Marley family, Scorsese didn’t want the competition with Bouchareb’s Jamie Foxx-starring project (even though the Marley family was initially behind it). What I read about the matter was much more complicated than what I’ve written here, but it really came down to, Bouchareb’s project (which was announced 2 years prior) wasn’t really moving ahead (despite his attempts to capitalize on Jamie’s Oscar win for Ray), and Scorsese, who we could say wields much more industry power and influence than Foxx and the “outsider” Bouchareb combined, expressed his interest in a doc; and the Marley family, considering their options, likely felt that Scorsese gave them the best shot at seeing a film (whether documentary or biopic) based on Bob Marley’s life. Either that, or they came to realize how peculiar the casting of Jamie Foxx in the role was, and were eventually seduced by the Scorsese name.
So, Bouchareb’s film died, and Scorsese’s documentary was given life.
But not so fast my friends… Scorsese’s doc was initially set to be released on February 6, this year, 2010, on what would have been Marley’s 65th birthday. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Why not? Well… let’s go back to 2008 for a minute shall we…
In March 2008, literally right around the time the Bouchareb/Scorsese conflict was being sorted out, the Weinstein Company announced that they had acquired the rights to develop the first ever biopic about Marley, and the film was to be based on Rita Marley’s autobiography, No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley; this confused me because the Marley family had already given their blessings to Martin Scorsese’s project, which put the kibosh on Bouchareb’s biopic due to music rights issues; but they’d now granted the Weinsteins the opportunity to spearhead their own film based on Marley’s life; and it all seemed to happen right around the same time: Scorsese announcing his doc; Bouchareb’s biopic dying; and the Weinsteins announcing their biopic, and even calling it “the first ever,” as if they already knew that Bouchareb’s biopic was dead (it was officially announced about 2 1/2 weeks after the Weinsteins made their plans known).
In all, it appears to me that the Marley family was simply trying to give Bob a proper remembrance on film, and would go with whomever they felt provided them the best opportunity to ensure that happened.
“I’ve waited a long time to tell this story, about growing up in Jamaica and meeting Bob and making our music and falling in love and making our family,” Rita Marley said in a statement at the Weinstein’s announcement of their project.
At the time, Lizzie Borden (Working Girls) was to write the screenplay. IMDBPro still lists her as the writer.
So, what happened to Scorese’s documentary then? As I said already, the doc was set to be released on February 6 of this year, on what would have been Marley’s 65th birthday. However, Scorsese dropped out of it, several months later, reportedly due to “scheduling conflicts,” and he was replaced by Jonathan Demme. Great, right? However, last August (2009), it was announced that Demme had also left the project, despite the fact that he’d already put a lot of work into it, and was reportedly already in post-production. What happened? “Creative differences” with the documentary’s producers, who were said to have seen saw Demme’s first cut and weren’t impressed.
Demme later addressed the matter with the following statement, “Profound creative differences emerged in the course of the editing. I ended up with a film I adore but unfortunately my love is not shared by the people who paid for it. So we have all got our heads together to find the most positive way to deal with that impasse. I hope we do because I loved making it.”
So, it’s in Limbo now it seems. The statement was made in September 2009, 9 months ago, and I haven’t heard anything more on the doc since then (but maybe someone out there has and can share with the rest of us). Until I hear otherwise, I’ll assume it’s dead.. for now. It’ll likely turn up eventually. I’d guess that they’ve been working on new edits that everyone involved can live with.
So, really, the only Bob Marley film that seems to be in play at the moment is the biopic film announced by the Weinsteins in March 2008. But it’s been over 2 years, and nothing has surfaced. It’s listed as “In Development” on IMDBPro, and, as I said, Lizzie Borden is still listed as screenwriter. No director is yet attached.
It was supposed to go into production last summer, but it didn’t. I’m guessing the global financial/economic meltdown forced the Weinsteins to reign in spending, and put the project on hold indefinitely. They’d already shaken up their release slate because they couldn’t afford to release certain films in their library that already had release dates set. Money was tight, even for them.
And so where does all this live us? Well… nowhere really. The Marley family obviously has wanted to bring Bob’s life to the big screen for a decade or more now, in grand Hollywood fashion too, it seems, and I imagine all these starts and stops, and the uncertainties must be frustrating.
In the end, it may be something that they might have to produce independently.
CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood aired a short piece of the family earlier this morning, and that’s what prompted me to write this piece
via shadowandact.com
