Jim Morrison To Be Celebrated With New Documentary
Jim Morrison is set to be the subject of a new documentary detailing his multi-disciplined career, from being the frontman of The Doors to stints in poetry and filmmaking.
The feature – which is currently untitled – is being developed by the Morrison estate and Jampol Artist Management (JAM Inc.), who oversees the legacies of The Doors and Janis Joplin. It’ll be produced by independent studio Gunpowder & Sky, alongside Jeff Pollack of FourScore Entertainment.
“Jim Morrison has been known as the leather trousers-clad Dionysian rock star, the Greek god handsome, amazing singer, shaman and performer. But Jim was a polymath. Jim was a poet and a writer and a filmmaker long before he ever thought about music,” Jeff Jampol, CEO of JAM Inc., told Billboard.
“All these decades everybody talked about Jim Morrison the rock star, which he certainly was. But we really felt it was time to even the playing field and talk about these other aspects of Jim, which were either not as known or celebrated or discussed.”
This documentary marks the first to focus solely on Jim Morrison, as opposed to his role within The Doors, as seen in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic of the band.
The approval of Morrison’s estate has meant producers will be able to access a wide collection of never-before-seen music, poetry and art from the late artist.
“They just unearthed all these diaries and notes and that’s what’s intriguing to me: having footage, writing and information about Jim that’s never been exposed,” Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler explained.
“It takes a unique filmmaker to really pull that out. If you do it right, it doesn’t really matter what preceded it — sort of like the eighth version of A Star Is Born, it’s new to a generation.”
Being in such early production stages means the documentary is still yet to have a director, with Jampol disclosing they are still searching for someone “who understands the import and the depth and the gravity” of Morrison.
“You need a director who is empathetic to the human and the artist and the art, [who] understands the history and context. It’s a very tall order, but it’s a very tall artist.”
The film is loosely scheduled for release in late 2022 to early 2023.
Last week, fans remembered Jim Morrison on the 50th anniversary of his death on July 3. To mark the occasion, many fans journeyed to his grave at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Take a look at tributes and footage from the memorial here.