Gregg Allman Biopic Planned by ‘CBGB’ Filmmakers
Gregg Allman has sold the rights to his memoir My Cross to Bear for a biopic by the filmmakers behind the forthcoming rock & roll movie CBGB.
Randall Miller and Jody Savin plan to work directly with Allman and his manager, Michael Lehman, on a movie adaptation of the singer’s life, and Allman and Lehman will be executive producers on the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Miller and Savin plan to explore two major aspects of Allman’s life: his rise to stardom with the Allman Brothers Band as a young man, and a look at an older, more experienced Allman at age 64. “We knew it was a great story but didn’t know how great it was until we read the book,” Miller said. “That journey and coming out the other side is not the normal falling-into-hell story that rock & roll often is.”
Though Allman found great success with the Allman Brothers, the various tragedies that beset the gropu spilled into his personal life. His brother Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash in 1971, two months after the band released their breakthrough At Fillmore East. About a year later, bassist Berry Oakley died in another motorcycle accident. Two girlfriends took their own lives after splitting with Allman, and the rocker was married six times (including a brief union with Cher) and spent several stints in rehab.
The new Allman project will feature original tunes, as well as songs performed by the cast. Miller and Savin’s CBGB is expected sometime this year, and stars the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins as Iggy Pop, Malin Akerman as Blondie‘s Debbie Harry and Alan Rickman as the club’s owner, Hilly Kristal.