Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 2, 2011 11:19:42 GMT
Deal Clears Way For Movie On The Doors
HOLLYWOOD….The Doors may finally be opening in movie theatres.
For years people have attempted to sew up the rights for a movie of the life of 60’s rock star Jim Morrison and The Doors.
There was even one film, Eddie & The Cruisers’ that many people thought was a fictional account of the charismatic singers mysterious death.
But with the word this week that Ron Howard and Brian Grazers Imagine Entertainment have picked up the project from Columbia Pictures it looks as it it is soon to be a reality.
“We hope to be able to make the film in five months” said Grazer who shares the title of Imagine chairman and chief executive with Howard.
“Ron and I loved The Doors and we think there’s a very inspirational story to tell”
Grazer said that he does not rule out the possibility that Howard might direct the film himself but a decision about a director will not be made until a news script is ready. Imagine has assigned the script to Ralph Thomas a Canadian journalist who wrote and directed ;A Ticket To Heaven’.
Morrison an enigmatic figure who died in Paris, shortly after abandoning his rock career, has been the subject of prospecting film producers ever since his 1971 death. At one point Morrison’s younger sister tried to put together a movie as did Danny Sugerman who wrote the Morrison biography ‘No One Her Gets Out Alive’.
But attempts to round up all of the necessary rights have failed until agents Tony Krantz and Tony Ludwig of Creative Artists Agency put Israeli producer Sasha Harari and San Francisco rock impresario Bill Graham together three years ago.
Harari already had the movie rights from the three surviving Doors and Graham who had produced Doors concerts, was able to negotiate for the others.
Krantz and Ludwig sold the project to Columbias then chairman Guy McElwaine two years ago. Ludwig has since become president of Imagine’s motion picture division and when he found out Columbia under new management was making it available he completed the odd cycle of buying a project that he had previously sold.
Grazer said that Imagine will finance the film and attempts to negotiate a distribution deal with one of the majors. The movie’s success would add an ironic footnote to the whole affair. Columbia’s biggest 1986 hit is La Bamba a biopic about Richie Valens a lesser rock figure than Morrison and one with a far less dramatic story to tell.
Neither Valens nor Morrison was around long.
Valens died in a plane crash nine months after cutting his first hit song. Morrison died under curious circumstances reportedly from a heart attack about five years after beginning his career.
But Morrison and The Doors were huge overnight successes and were among the most popular groups internationally in the late 60s.
Their popularity has not waned. Bill Graham who will co produce ‘Riders’ with Harari, said that The Doors are selling as well now as they did 20 years ago. Graham said The Doors catalogue (7 albums) is selling more than one million albums a year in the US and almost as many abroad.
For comparison Graham said Janis Joplin, another major and ultimately tragic figure, is currently selling less than 50,000 albums a year.
Morrison himself has almost become the James Dean of rock and roll, a cult figure whose persona and talents have been magnified by his death.
The Doors music, most of which was written by Morrison, was often lumped in with the ‘psychedelic rock’ movement of it’s time, but it has transcended that archaic label to help fuse the musical tastes of two generations. The group’s best known song Light My Fire is a perennial Top-10 finisher in audience polls of all time rock favourites.
Said Imagine’s Ludwig ‘I think this is the first time in modern history where both parents and children are listening to the same music. That explains why La Bamba is doing well and why this picture will have something to say.
What ‘Riders On The Storm’ will specifically have to say is being kept secret by the principals involved. Grazer said he and Howard like the mythic quality of the story. Graham said his interest in the project was to accurately depict the atmosphere and mood of the 60s, which he said has not been done in a rock setting yet.
‘The 60s was the most exciting period I would ever expect to live through.’ Graham said. ‘No matter how you lived or how you felt about what was going on, we all knew there was an attempt by young people at affecting a positive alternative society. Morrison and The Doors were thrust into a position of leadership. They were made to be sociological heroes rather than entertainment heroes.’
Graham thinks the suddenness and intensity of The Doors success was responsible for a lot of Morrison’s self destructive lifestyle and his erratic behaviour on stage. Morrison often performed drunk and in one highly publicised incident he was arrested for exposing himself during a Florida concert.
No matter how accurately Imagine attempts to tell the Jim Morrison story, it will have to overcome some major unknown factors. The first is why Morrison quit so abruptly and moved to Paris. The other is how or indeed if he died.
Morrison’s death was not announced until after his reported burial in a Paris cemetery, which was more than enough to fuel the imagination of his fans and enough to lead even some of his friends to wonder if he had not just ducked out of society, as he had talked of doing, to write poetry.
Morrison who reportedly had an IQ of 146 preferred to be thought of as a poet rather than a rock singer and he had recorded 20 hours of his poetry, some of which was later adapted by the remaining Doors for an album ‘An American Prayer.’
Ludwig said that screenwriter Thomas had discovered something in his own research about Morrison’s youth that will help explain some of his later behaviour and that this little bit of information will serve as a psychological thread for the profile.
Co-Producer Harari who estimated that the film would cost between $8 and $12 million dollars, said original Doors music will be used on the sound track but there would be two or three major concert scenes.
Gainesville Sun September 5th 1987.
HOLLYWOOD….The Doors may finally be opening in movie theatres.
For years people have attempted to sew up the rights for a movie of the life of 60’s rock star Jim Morrison and The Doors.
There was even one film, Eddie & The Cruisers’ that many people thought was a fictional account of the charismatic singers mysterious death.
But with the word this week that Ron Howard and Brian Grazers Imagine Entertainment have picked up the project from Columbia Pictures it looks as it it is soon to be a reality.
“We hope to be able to make the film in five months” said Grazer who shares the title of Imagine chairman and chief executive with Howard.
“Ron and I loved The Doors and we think there’s a very inspirational story to tell”
Grazer said that he does not rule out the possibility that Howard might direct the film himself but a decision about a director will not be made until a news script is ready. Imagine has assigned the script to Ralph Thomas a Canadian journalist who wrote and directed ;A Ticket To Heaven’.
Morrison an enigmatic figure who died in Paris, shortly after abandoning his rock career, has been the subject of prospecting film producers ever since his 1971 death. At one point Morrison’s younger sister tried to put together a movie as did Danny Sugerman who wrote the Morrison biography ‘No One Her Gets Out Alive’.
But attempts to round up all of the necessary rights have failed until agents Tony Krantz and Tony Ludwig of Creative Artists Agency put Israeli producer Sasha Harari and San Francisco rock impresario Bill Graham together three years ago.
Harari already had the movie rights from the three surviving Doors and Graham who had produced Doors concerts, was able to negotiate for the others.
Krantz and Ludwig sold the project to Columbias then chairman Guy McElwaine two years ago. Ludwig has since become president of Imagine’s motion picture division and when he found out Columbia under new management was making it available he completed the odd cycle of buying a project that he had previously sold.
Grazer said that Imagine will finance the film and attempts to negotiate a distribution deal with one of the majors. The movie’s success would add an ironic footnote to the whole affair. Columbia’s biggest 1986 hit is La Bamba a biopic about Richie Valens a lesser rock figure than Morrison and one with a far less dramatic story to tell.
Neither Valens nor Morrison was around long.
Valens died in a plane crash nine months after cutting his first hit song. Morrison died under curious circumstances reportedly from a heart attack about five years after beginning his career.
But Morrison and The Doors were huge overnight successes and were among the most popular groups internationally in the late 60s.
Their popularity has not waned. Bill Graham who will co produce ‘Riders’ with Harari, said that The Doors are selling as well now as they did 20 years ago. Graham said The Doors catalogue (7 albums) is selling more than one million albums a year in the US and almost as many abroad.
For comparison Graham said Janis Joplin, another major and ultimately tragic figure, is currently selling less than 50,000 albums a year.
Morrison himself has almost become the James Dean of rock and roll, a cult figure whose persona and talents have been magnified by his death.
The Doors music, most of which was written by Morrison, was often lumped in with the ‘psychedelic rock’ movement of it’s time, but it has transcended that archaic label to help fuse the musical tastes of two generations. The group’s best known song Light My Fire is a perennial Top-10 finisher in audience polls of all time rock favourites.
Said Imagine’s Ludwig ‘I think this is the first time in modern history where both parents and children are listening to the same music. That explains why La Bamba is doing well and why this picture will have something to say.
What ‘Riders On The Storm’ will specifically have to say is being kept secret by the principals involved. Grazer said he and Howard like the mythic quality of the story. Graham said his interest in the project was to accurately depict the atmosphere and mood of the 60s, which he said has not been done in a rock setting yet.
‘The 60s was the most exciting period I would ever expect to live through.’ Graham said. ‘No matter how you lived or how you felt about what was going on, we all knew there was an attempt by young people at affecting a positive alternative society. Morrison and The Doors were thrust into a position of leadership. They were made to be sociological heroes rather than entertainment heroes.’
Graham thinks the suddenness and intensity of The Doors success was responsible for a lot of Morrison’s self destructive lifestyle and his erratic behaviour on stage. Morrison often performed drunk and in one highly publicised incident he was arrested for exposing himself during a Florida concert.
No matter how accurately Imagine attempts to tell the Jim Morrison story, it will have to overcome some major unknown factors. The first is why Morrison quit so abruptly and moved to Paris. The other is how or indeed if he died.
Morrison’s death was not announced until after his reported burial in a Paris cemetery, which was more than enough to fuel the imagination of his fans and enough to lead even some of his friends to wonder if he had not just ducked out of society, as he had talked of doing, to write poetry.
Morrison who reportedly had an IQ of 146 preferred to be thought of as a poet rather than a rock singer and he had recorded 20 hours of his poetry, some of which was later adapted by the remaining Doors for an album ‘An American Prayer.’
Ludwig said that screenwriter Thomas had discovered something in his own research about Morrison’s youth that will help explain some of his later behaviour and that this little bit of information will serve as a psychological thread for the profile.
Co-Producer Harari who estimated that the film would cost between $8 and $12 million dollars, said original Doors music will be used on the sound track but there would be two or three major concert scenes.
Gainesville Sun September 5th 1987.