Bob Dylan Biopic Producers Are Looking At Two Other 1960s Icons for Next Films

Biopic lovers rejoice: The producers of the Bob Dylan film, A Complete Unknown, are currently looking ahead at potential projects about two other 1960s icons, Syd Barrett and Mama Cass. Peter Jaysen hinted at the possibility of more biopics on a December 2024 episode of The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, and it’s an exciting possibility indeed.

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As of now, it sounds like most of these plans are up in the air. But if they were to come to fruition, cinephiles and 1960s music lovers would be in for a treat.

Bob Dylan Biopic Producers’ Possible Upcoming Projects

Film producer Peter Jaysen visited The Town with Matthew Belloni to discuss his recent Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet. Dylan’s movie is one part of a larger trend toward feature films about iconic rock stars past and present. A Complete Unknown joins other recent biopics like Elton John’s biopic, Rocketman, and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Bruce Springsteen’s Deliver Me From Nowhere and Michael Jackson’s Michael are on the docket for what’s to come.

Jaysen has his sights set on two different musical icons. “Due to our involvement with Bob doing A Complete Unknown, we’ve been fortunate enough that right now, we’re working on, with Wash Westmoreland, the great writer-director, a Syd Barrett movie, one of the founders of Pink Floyd.”

“We have had multiple Zooms with the estate of Mama Cass Elliot and met with her daughter, Owen,” he continued, “and are close to acquiring the rights to her book, My Mama Cass. So that’s a way of doing the Mamas and the Papas.” He added that he would love to be the producer behind a Stevie Nicks biopic, but he hasn’t started seriously looking into that yet.

Two Stars Ripe To Be Tragic Heros

Part of what makes biopics so popular is the natural allure of a superstar’s life, no matter their professional trajectory (or fall from grace). But Syd Barrett and Mama Cass Elliot are two figures from the 1960s who are particularly ripe to be the tragic heroes in their respective films. Both musicians suffered from the negative effects of a music industry that was intolerant of people being different, whether because of their mental health, like Barrett, or their size, like Elliot.

Barrett left Pink Floyd in the psychedelic rock band’s early years after a disastrous U.S. tour that had to be cut short due to the frontman’s erratic behavior. The founding member was only on two Pink Floyd albums: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets. David Gilmour replaced Barrett following the band’s tour of the States, and this new lineup would go on to create monumental hits like Dark Side of the Moon.

Mama Cass Elliot, one of the four members of Mamas and the Papas, lived a tragically short life. The industry—and her own band—made digs at her weight relentlessly, and the stigma around Elliot’s size even played into a false rumor about her cause of death. Despite all of the body shaming and exclusion she faced during her short career, Elliot went on to become the most commercially successful solo artist to come from the quartet.

While there are no definitive release dates, cast information, or other details available for these potential films as of now, we’ll be eagerly keeping an eye out to learn more.

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