Showtime Documentary Films is working with Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese on a new project that profiles David Johansen, the frontman of the New York Dolls.<\/p>\n
Emmy\u00a0nominee David Tedeschi will co-direct with Scorsese, and\u00a0Scorsese and Sikelia Productions will executive produce with Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Imagine Documentaries. The film will reveal the many faces of Johansen, who grew up on Staten Island and landed in New York\u2019s East Village in the late 1960s. Johansen\u2019s musical career started in the 1970s as the lead singer for the punk\/glam pioneers the New York Dolls, continued as he helped to usher in the swing revival as Buster Poindexter in the 1980s and dug deep into the blues with the Harry Smiths in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
To tell this story, Scorsese is working with longtime collaborators such as producer Margaret Bodde, director of photography Ellen Kuras, and Tedeschi. Scorsese and his team filmed Johansen earlier this year at New York\u2019s legendary Caf\u00e9 Carlyle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve known David Johansen for decades, and his music has been a touchstone ever since I listened to the Dolls when I was making Mean Streets,\u201d said Scorsese. \u201cThen and now, David\u2019s music captures the energy and excitement of New York City. I often see him perform, and over the years I\u2019ve gotten to know the depth of his musical inspirations. After seeing his show last year at the Caf\u00e9 Carlyle, I knew I had to film it because it was so extraordinary to see the evolution of his life and his musical talent in such an intimate setting. For me, the show captured the true emotional potential of a live musical experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an honor for all of us at Showtime to be working with Martin Scorsese, who unquestionably stands as one of the greatest filmmakers of our time,\u201d said Vinnie Malhotra, executive VP of nonfiction programming at Showtime Networks. \u201cOver the past few decades his documentary work has taken us inside the lives of some of the most iconic musicians, from The Band to The Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan, and now David Johansen and the New York Dolls. Johansen\u2019s story transcends the walls of music and is a window into the art and cultural evolution of New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re ecstatic to have Showtime as our partners and to be in business with Marty on his next feature doc,\u201d said Imagine Documentaries’ president, Justin Wilkes. \u201cRon, Sara (Bernstein) and I had the thrill of attending the Carlyle performance where we witnessed David\u2019s electricity burning up the stage, which Marty masterfully harnessed into his battery of cameras. If that\u2019s not the beginning of a movie, I\u2019m not sure what is\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Showtime Documentary Films is working with Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese on a new project that profiles David Johansen, the frontman of the New York Dolls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":14792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[3154,5006,3343],"class_list":["post-14791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-imagine-documentaries","tag-martin-scorsese","tag-showtime-documentary-films","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n