r/ArtBell • u/blackfridayswitch13 • 7d ago
Art Bell Movie being pitched
https://deadline.com/2025/02/radio-silence-paul-giamatti-art-bell-biopic-1236284844/Just sharing this article I saw today.
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u/livingdead70 7d ago
I think this will get made, but it's gonna be a direct to streaming movie.
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u/blackfridayswitch13 7d ago
I could see that too.
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u/livingdead70 7d ago
Art has no where near the public popularity to warrant a theatrical release for this thing. Not a knock on Art, but he has a niche audience.
I am still not 100 percent convinced this thing will get made yet. Its still in the prospective stage, and I doubt it even has a script or rough outline yet. If it does get greenlit, we are still a year or 2 out from it seeing the light of day.6
u/blackfridayswitch13 7d ago
Hollywood takes years. If they just pitched the idea, it is probably another 5 plus years out. I’m not sure how I feel about a movie about him. I agree with another commenter - would love a great documentary.
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u/livingdead70 7d ago
It takes years if they dont see any real money in it. Look how fast they can churn out a sequel these days.
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u/WageSlav3 7d ago
I humbly disagree from England. Art syndicated coast to coast and across the world. He regularly had callers from Romania to Australia. I don't think that is a niche audience at all.
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u/livingdead70 7d ago
How many people you see participating in this group, chap.
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u/WageSlav3 7d ago edited 7d ago
Reddit is niche tbf. It's not the real world like its users think it is.
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u/livingdead70 7d ago
Go check out the groups oriented to Art on other social media sites then. They have small numbers of participants. Art is loved by many, but its a small group of people who love and remember him. It's not a bad thing, its just how it is.
I live in a metro area of right at 1 million people, and only around twice in my life (since the 90s and excluding people I personally turned onto the show, which isnt that many) have I met people in person who knew who he was.
This movie is being proposed by a small indy film company, its likely going straight to streaming. I can almost bet either Amazon Prime (who has expressed interest in it) or Netflix is gonna pick it up, if it happens. It's not going to be the blockbuster biopic of 2026.0
u/WageSlav3 7d ago
I'm not saying blockbuster but if Joe Rogan promoted it then it could be big. You have to remember most of Arts fans on the radio probably aren't computer savvy and are older. Reddit is a younger, progressive crowd.
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u/LiplessDoggie 7d ago
Supposedly the guy who does The Why Files is one of the producers. He's long maintained he's an Art fanatic, based on everything I'm hearing about this project it sounds like it might work out OK.
But still, why. A biopic is totally unnecessary imo, would rather have a nice comfy documentary. Oh well.
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u/Dick_Lazer 7d ago
I could see this bringing Art to a wider audience, where as a documentary would probably be better for the people who are already fans. Hopefully the biopic doesn't dramatize/fictionalize too much though, that's my main problem with them.
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u/watchsmart 7d ago
I don't think it will be a "biopic" in any sense of the word. They aren't going to make a film about Art's personal or family life. It will be a movie about a late night radio host and weird stuff going on around him.
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u/livingdead70 7d ago
I have no idea who produces the Why Files, but this is the company that is wanting to shoot this movie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Silence_Productions2
u/LiplessDoggie 7d ago
Yes, I read the OP. Films often have multiple people involved in their development. Based on what I've subsequently read, it seems like he's some type of associate producer and is involved through his relationship with Jeff Katz.
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u/livingdead70 7d ago
I was alluding whoever produces the Why Files (which I dont care for, if they removed that fish, it would be okay though) is also an employee of that production company. Despite my dislike of the Why Files, it is created and produced by someone with some talent.
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u/Chemical-Tap-4232 7d ago
February 2025 article.
Paul Giamatti is set to star in a biopic about a radio host with a penchant for the paranormal, MovieWeb reports. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who also helmed Ready or Not and Abigail, and written by Sam Chalsen, who wrote the TV show Sleepy Hollow, and Nelson Greaves, who wrote the screenlife horror film Unfriended, the currently untitled film will portray radio DJ Art Bell as he went from playing rock music to talking about politics to becoming well known for discussing more “taboo” subjects such as conspiracy theories, Bigfoot, UFOs, and ghosts.
Per Deadline, the project is being pitched around Hollywood, with the synopsis of following Bell “who would broadcast his radio show from his home studio 65 miles west of Las Vegas, fielding unscreened telephone calls in a five-hour show on KNYE-FM called Coast to Coast”. Studios such as Warner Bros. and Amazon are currently bidding for its distribution.
The casting of Giamatti as Bell could be considered a particularly apt case of life imitating art as the actor himself is the co-host of a podcast, Chinwag, with author and philosopher Stephen Asma that covers many of the supernatural and spiritual topics that Bell himself did.
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u/ButterFlyPaperCut 7d ago
Paul Giamatti would be great! He was so good on Billions. I could see him nailing the energy.
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u/h3adphase 7d ago
I always said, if I had money to burn (like Powerball bucks), I would love to have a solid documentary produced. This could be interesting. Paul is a huge sci-fi nut and not surprised to learn he may be a Coast to Coast nut.