Movies in the works about Bob Dylan's producer, Steely Dan's engineer

Tom Wilson in 1967; PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Tired of biopics about legendary rock stars? Well, soon you'll have a chance to watch a biopic about the man behind some of rock's most legendary recordings.

Variety reports that an authorized biopic about legendary producer Tom Wilson, called Like a Rolling Stone, is in the works from Pfonetic, a movie and TV production company. The title comes from the fact that Wilson produced Bob Dylan's iconic single of the same name.

Wilson also produced early Dylan albums like Bringing It All Back Home, Another Side of Bob Dylan and The Times They Are a-Changin'. In 1969, Dylan credited Wilson with helping him move from a folk to a rock sound.

In addition to Dylan, Wilson produced Simon & Garfunkel's hit "The Sound of Silence"; its success inspired the duo, who'd broken up by that point, to reunite. His other credits include two albums by The Velvet Underground — including the seminal release The Velvet Underground & Nico — plus LPs by The Animals, Frank Zappa and more.

Pfonetic also plans to make a documentary about the late Roger Nichols, a former nuclear scientist and inventor who became Steely Dan's recording engineer, winning six Grammys for his work with the notoriously perfectionist group.

Nichols' name has been in the news lately: His daughters recently discovered a tape among their late father's things, which turned out to be a legendary "lost" Steely Dan tune called "The Second Arrangement.” The daughters plan to sell the tape at auction to help finance the documentary.

Friday, August 4, 2023 at 3:00PM by Andrea Dresdale Permalink