Usually when a music biopic is announced, it’s based around the people in front of the microphone, or behind the guitar – the Johnny Cashes and the Ray Charles-types of the world.
But Warners is stepping behind the executive desk to chronicle the career of former Columbia Records A&R man John Hammond.
Naturally, he’s not just any old music executive- he’s something of a living legend himself, having signed the likes of Billie Holliday, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
Born in New York in 1910 and initially angled towards classical music by his mother, Hammond gravitated instead towards jazz. He dropped out of college, but kick-started a career as a music scout and producer using his own money. Outside of his music influence he was also an early advocate of civil rights.
The studio and producer Jerry Weintraub nabbed film rights based on Dunstan Prial’s biography The Producer: John Hammond And The Soul Of American Music. "He was a purist and he knew music from beginning to end," Weintraub told Variety.
There’s no director or writer attached yet.