Silence of the Scorsese - Jonathan Demme takes over on Bob Marley doc

Martin Scorsese's reawakening to the music industry which has seen him helm terrific and very personal documentaries on Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones, sadly won't be followed up with a Bob Marley documentary. Variety say Scorsese's schedule on his next thriller Shutter Island has forced him to pull out at the last minute. Silence of the Lambs helmer Jonathan Demme who himself just made the documentary Jimmy Carter Man From Plains will take over. He is a big music fan himself, with a Neil Young doc - Storefront Hitchcock - a Talking Heads concert movie titled Stop Making Sense and music vid's for artists Bruce Springsteen and The Pretenders on his CV. The documentary will be produced by the Bob Marley estate and has a target release date set for February 6th, 2010 which is the day the legendary singer would have turned 65 if he were still with us today.

"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," Demme said in a statement.

A feature biopic is also expected from the Weinsteins who own the rights to a biopic novel written by the singer€™s widow Rita Marley titledNo Women No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley with a late 2009/early 2010 release planned.