Apple TV+ nets Grateful Dead biopic directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Jonah Hill

Source: Getty Images via Fortune

Scorsese will direct and produce the as-yet-untitled film, with Hill signed to star as the group's frontman Jerry Garcia, reports Deadline. Hill will produce for his Strong Baby company with Matt Dines.

The last outing for Scorsese and Hill was 2013's "Wolf of Wall Street."

Not much is known about the movie's plot, though the report says a script is being penned by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. The duo, who wrote the script for "American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson," is working with Rick Yorn on the Dead project.

The writing team will have access to original band members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, who will executive produce alongside Garcia's daughter Trixie Garcia. Eric Eisner and Bernie Cahill will also executive produce.

Sources familiar with the project say Apple has rights to use the Dead's catalog for the film, as the band and its management are participating in production.

The Dead formed in the Bay Area in 1965 and quickly found fame for their unique fusion of musical genres spanning folk, bluegrass, gospel and rock. Playing thousands of live shows and amassing a horde of fans known as "Deadheads," the group came to symbolize that era's counterculture movement and psychedelia. The band broke up after Garcia died in 1995, though descendant groups have kept the Dead's music alive and popular to this day.

As noted in the report, Scorsese has produced and directed a number of rock documentaries, including Grateful Dead doc "Long Strange Trip," but the Apple project will be his first biopic about a musical group.

The upcoming film is the fruit of a first-look deal Apple inked with Scorsese's Sikelia Productions last year. Prior to signing that arrangement, Apple purchased rights to "Killers Of The Flower Moon," directed by Scorsese and starring Jesse Plemons, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.