The upcoming Bob Marley biopic is now under new management. Martin Scorsese was going to direct a film about the singer, which will be released on February 6, 2010 to coincide with the 65th anniversary of Marley's birth, but scheduling conflicts have forced him to give up the megaphone. Jonathan Demme will now shout the orders instead.
It may not initially seem like a fair swap, given that Demme has been a touch off his game for a good few years when it comes to narrative films, but the man made The Silence Of The Lambs so he deserves our constant optimism that he can be great again. Also, let's remember that Demme has form in the the music-to-film world too, having directed, among several music documentaries, what might well be described as the greatest concert movie ever made, the Talking Heads-centric Stop Making Sense. So this could be perfect material for him.
It's not clear where exactly Scorsese's scheduling conflicts occur, but he does have a number of films on his dance card. He's currently working on Shutter Island, a Leonardo DiCaprio thriller about a woman who disappears from an insane asylum. There's also talk of a possible film about former US President Theodore Roosevelt and a Japan-set war movie called Silence.