Cinematical

Miramax recently purchased the rights to a forthcoming biography of Timothy Leary, with an eye to making a totally groovy biopic about the 1960s icon. Music writer Robert Greenfield's book -- unsurprisingly title Timothy Leary: A Biography -- is based in large part on interviews with Leary friends and associates and is, according to Publishers Weekly, a "'decidedly ugly portrayal of a pathologically selfish, narcissistic yet complex man who lacked basic qualities such as empathy and compassion" likely to evoke in readers a "visceral dislike for Leary." Wow. That was unexpected, huh? Suddenly I'm really intrigued by this project -- it would have been very easy for Miramax to make a "Yay, LSD!" movie in which Leary's contributions to the 1960s were celebrated in a sort of nostalgic way, but their choice of Greenfield's book as their source (assuming someone at the studio has read it) suggests they've got something much more complex in mind.

How and if this project is related to the rumored Leary biopics being planned by both Darren Aronofsky and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production company is anyone's guess. It's unlikely, though, that DiCaprio, whose father was a good friend of Leary's, would be interested in anything based on Greenfield's negative portrayal.