Paul Giamatti is attached to star in a biopic about a paranormal DJ. A character actor for much of his career, Giamatti always shines when starring in a lead role, most recently as a disgruntled teacher in The Holdovers, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Before that, Giamatti received an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor for 2006’s Cinderella Man. On television, Giamatti has starred in the HBO miniseries John Adams, winning an Emmy for playing the тιтle role.

Now, per ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Giamatti is attached to star in Radio Silence’s new biopic about the paranormal DJ Art Bell. Amazon and Warner Bros. are among those who are eagerly bidding on the project. With Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett directing, Sam Chalsen (CW’s The Flash) and Nelson Greaves (Unfriended) are writing the script.

What Paul Giamatti’s Attachment Means For The Art Bell Biopic

Who Was Art Bell & Who Else Is Involved In The Project?

With Giamatti, a two-time Oscar-nominated actor attached to star, the Art Bell biopic has received a big boost in terms of its prestige. The late paranormal DJ hosted the five-hour radio show, Coast to Coast, which took unscreened calls from guests recounting allegedly firsthand tales of alien encounters, reincarnation, time travel, and other phenomena reminiscent of The X-Files. Bell even claimed to have had his own UFO encounter. At the peak of its popularity during the 1990s, Coast to Coast drew an audience of roughly 10 million listeners.

It’s unclear how much of Art Bell’s life the biopic will cover, though he began his career as an amateur radio operator at the age of just 13. He later served as an Air Force medic during the Vietnam War and worked as a DJ for an English-language station in Okinawa. Bell also co-wrote the book, The Coming Global Superstorm, on which Roland Emmerich’s The Day After Tomorrow is based, and his autobiography The Art of Talk, on which the upcoming biopic will be based.

The Art Bell biopic is from Radio Silence, which consists of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, but also producers Justin Martinez and Chad Villella. Also producing is Jeff Katz, who also started his career in talk radio and has long been pursuing the rights to the Art Bell biopic. He spent significant time fostering relationships with and securing the support of Bell’s longtime girlfriend and business partner, Karen Jackson, as well as his family.

Our Take On Paul Giamatti Starring In The Art Bell Biopic

It’s A Different Kind Of Project For Radio Silence

Radio Silence is known for the horror films Ready or Not, Scream (2022), Scream VI, and Abigail. In turn, a biopic is uncharted territory for the team. However, as their namesake indicates, a biopic about a radio host, especially one who hosted a sci-fi adjacent show, seems right in their wheelhouse. Paul Giamatti should also have an interesting character to play in Art Bell, who is synonymous with the paranormal and other bizarre, captivating, and unexplained phenomena.

Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline