Jonathan Demme Vs. Martin Scorsese: Who’s The Best Music Doc Director?

anthonyjmiccio | May 21, 2008 1:30 am

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Jonathan Demme is taking over an upcoming Bob Marley documentary for Martin Scorsese, seeing as how Scorsese’s busy–there’s supposedly a George Harrison documentary in the hopper–and all documentaries about boomer musical legends must be directed by one of the two. Demme will get started on the Marley movie just as soon as he finishes The Neil Young Trunk Show. While I can understand why any older artist would prefer to have their work chronicled by either the guy who did The Last Waltz or the guy who did Stop Making Sense, the aging icon who makes the next one of these might want to liven things up a tad by considering Michel Gondry, or maybe someone who goes by “Spike.”

“I am thrilled and humbled by this extraordinary opportunity to participate in fashioning a motion picture that can serve as a worthy vessel for the spiritual and musical brilliance of Bob Marley, who, most everybody agrees, is one of the greatest human beings of modern times,” Demme said in a statement.

Ziggy Marley, one of the film’s executive producers, said: “His empathy with my father’s body of work and his unique understanding of the musical documentary form makes me confident that this film will be the ultimate celebration of my fathers’ life.”

Putting aside from the question of whether anyone other than Scorsese or Demme has a unique understanding of the musical documentary form, which of these guys would you rather chronicle the life of your favorite band? Would you prefer Scorsese’s sudden zooms and between-song interviews…

…or Jonathan Demme’s less obtrusive style?

“Bad” or “Perfect Kiss”? Or would you rather set Peter Bogdanovich off to making a follow-up to the four-hour epic he created for Tom Petty? And if Scorsese is R. Kelly, and Demme is Akon, who’s T-Pain? Don’t even mention Jim Jarmusch.

Bob Marley Doc Goes To Demme After Scorsese Drops Out [The Set List] Shine a Light (2008) – OFFICIAL TRAILER [YouTube] Talking Heads “Burning Down The House” [YouTube] [Photo: Getty Images]