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Philip Seymour Hoffman May Play Daniel Johnston in Biopic

8:45 a.m. · March 19, 2010 · by Nick Neyland

The Devil and Daniel Johnston may not have been enough to appease moviegoers looking for a fix of extremely talented dysfunctional singer-songwriters. Filmmaker Daniel Miller is planning a biopic of Daniel Johnston, and is claiming it will differ wildly from the material in Jeff Feuerzeig’s acclaimed documentary.

“It's going to be an epic super hero story and it's going to be a narrative biopic so it doesn't really cover any of the same stuff,” said Miller, who is producing the film, which will be directed by the star of his My Suicide movie, Gabriel Sunday. Sunday will also play a version of the young Johnston in the film.

As for who’s going to play the older version of the musician, Miller is thinking big: “We're either putting Gabriel in a fat suit or there's so many people that are reaching out that are huge Daniel Johnston fans. Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly for example, Johnny Depp's a big Daniel Johnston fan though we'd like him to play the older brother.” No release date is yet set for the film, but if those cast members get on board this is likely to generate interest far beyond Johnston’s tiny but devoted fanbase.

[via The Playlist]