A new two-part docuseries about legendary singer/songwriter Paul Simon has been acquired by MGM+ and will premiere on the streaming service next year, Variety reports. In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon will debut over the course of two nights, March 17 and March 24, at 9 p.m. ET.
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The multi-part movie, which got its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival in September, follows Simon during the COVID-19 pandemic as he works on his latest album, Seven Psalms, and also profiles his life and career as a solo artist and as part of the famous folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel.
[RELATED: Paul Simon Discusses Simon and Garfunkel Break-Up with Howard Stern]
According to a press statement about the docuseries, In Restless Dreams features “revelatory, previously unseen footage from such historic moments as the recording of Bridge over Troubled Water and Graceland, Simon & Garfunkel’s unforgettable [1981] reunion concert in Central Park, and, 10 years later, Simon’s solo concert there, where he performed before 750,000 people.”
The series was directed by prolific documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, who won an Oscar in 2008 for Taxi to the Dark Side, and whose other credits include Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown (2014), Sinatra: All or Nothing at All (2015), and Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge (2017).
In an interview with Deadline this past October, Gibney explained how the film came about.
“[Paul] had reached out to me, he had seen the Sinatra film and wondered if I might be interested in doing a film about his overall career,” Gibney shared. “And of course, I was interested in that. But the gift was when he called me up and said, ‘I’m making this new album. Would you like to come watch me make it?’ And that was a gift because it was him in the present working on something. I could see him working on it.”
He added that “because [Seven Psalms was] a meditation on belief and life and death, it seemed appropriate to move back and forth in time to earlier moments in his career [in the documentary].”
The docuseries also features appearances by Simon’s wife, singer/songwriter Edie Brickell, and two of his good friends, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels and acclaimed jazz musician and composer Wynton Marsalis.
In a press statement about the acquisition, MGM+ executive Michael Wright praised Gibney as “one of the most gifted documentary filmmakers of our time,” while noting that he’s “brought his incredible storytelling eye to the fascinating and worthy subject of Paul Simon’s iconic career.”
Wright added, “Simon’s generational talent and incomparable body of work is expertly presented by Alex and his team. We’re thrilled that this stunning deep dive into Simon’s career and creative process has landed at MGM+.”
In other news, Simon recently posted a link to an interview he did with Ireland’s RTE Radio 1 about his friendship with ex-Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who died on November 30 at age 65. He also posted a quote from the conversation regarding what Simon fondly recalled about MacGowan.
“Of course I remember his laugh, which was so distinctive,” Simon said. “It isn’t just the laugh that’s so distinctive, but how often that laugh occurred. He liked to laugh, and I like to kid around, too. And once you get up to a level where you can feel free enough to tease each other, you know, then things are flying…I mean, I guess people always say, I wish I knew him longer and better…”
Simon also posted the quote on his social media sites, along with a clip of the Pogues’ music video for “The Fairytale of New York” and a photo of Simon, MacGowan and actor Woody Harrelson.
