An authorised biopic based on the life and career of recently deceased country legend Merle Haggard is in development.
According to Deadline, the musician, who died of pneumonia on 6 April 2016, had approved the film before his death. His friend, Carl Cooper, is said to be working on the concept with GMH Productions.
Named Done It All – after his 1971 track I’ve Done It All – it is said to be based on a script written by Cliff Hollingsworth, who co-wrote Cinderella Man, the Russell Crowe film about 1930s boxer James Braddock.
While its creators have yet to announce its cast, Done It All will follow Haggard’s life from poverty-stricken childhood, to crime and eventual big break with the help of country star Wynn Stewart, who gave Haggard the track Sing A Sad Song that launched his career in 1963.
In other Haggard news, Tom Waits has paid tribute to the singer who informed much of his early interest in music, and praised the way in which he took “the lives of common ordinary folks who we had all stopped seeing and put them in songs and gave them a voice, and kept them alive”.
“When I was a teenager I was listening to songs like they were books and studied them to learn how to write songs of my own. Who ever thought that something great could come out of Bakersfield? It made me feel a whole lot better about living in a place called National City,” Waits told Rolling Stone.
He adds: “‘Haggard songs are lived-in, broke-in and filled with longing – his last name will always be an adjective.”
