Martin Scorsese is stepping aside as the director of an upcoming documentary about legendary reggae artist, Bob Marley.
Jonathan Demme who directed the Academy Award winning “The Silence of the Lambs” has signed on to direct the documentary.
Marley’s son, Ziggy is an executive producer on the project.
The documentary is set to be released on February 6th, 2010; to coincide with, what would have been Marley’s 60th birthday.
Marley died from cancer in 1981.
There are two Bob Marley biopics in the works but the late reggae star’s family is only showing love to one of the highly anticipated films.
Marley’s heirs are holding out on licensing the music for a Weinstein Company-backed movie about the reggae icon’s life that will be executive-produced by his widow, Rita Marley.
The family is allegedly not releasing the rights because their company, Tuff Gong Pictures is already rallying behind a documentary project by Martin Scorsese.
The Marleys agreed to license the musician’s entire song catalog for Scorcese’s documentary and is worried Weinstein’s biopic will conflict with the film to be released in February 2010.
“Martin Scorsese doesn’t want to go out with a competing project, and [producer] Steven Bing has made deals with companies [that are now compromised],” Blue Mountain Music head Chris Blackwell told the Hollywood Reporter, according to E! News. “The Weinstein project has put the documentary into jeopardy.”
Reggae star and Marley’s son, Ziggy is also an executive producer on the Scorsese picture. Ziggy said he and his family only hope to protect their father’s legacy.
“All our efforts and support are currently directed toward the documentary,” Ziggy said. “We believe that this project is the best way to represent our father’s life from his perspective, and any other film project pertaining to our father will be empty without his music to support it.”
Despite the apparent lack of support, the Weinstein Company is remaining optimistic.
“We have great respect for the Marley family and Chris Blackwell and are in discussions to look at ways to mutually benefit both projects,” a spokesman for the company said.
R&B artist Lauryn Hill is expecting her fifth child.
The father is her on-again, off-again (currently off-again) boyfriend Rohan Marley. This will be Marley’s eighth child.
The couple are supposedly broken up, as Hill is living in LA and Marley is in Ethiopia.
32-year-old Hill, a former member of The Fugees, has been making headlines lately for her nasty attitude and feud with her old band members – one of whom, Pras, has called her “bi-polar.”
At a concert in July, Hill demanded that none of her security guards walk by her, look at her or speak to her without being spoken to first. Allegedly, one guard broke this last rule and Hill flipped, throwing water bottles at him.
