The Coen Brothers may next be directing and writing a biopic focused on one of the Greenwich Valley folk genre’s most famous names, Dave Van Ronk, Collider is reporting. The movie will reportedly be loosely based on Van Ronk’s life as not only an influential musician, but as a left-wing activist as well. The film will also be partially based on the singer’s posthumous memoir The Mayor of MacDougal Street.

The news comes several weeks after the Coen Brothers appeared at New York’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. While at the film center, they suggested their next film would be music-based. Joel Coen even said that he and his brother Ethan are “working on a movie now that has music in it but it’s pretty much all performed live, single instrument.” The brothers also said their next film would “offer natural dialogue and the feeling of being dropped into the middle of a world.”

‘The Mayor of MacDougal Street’ follows singer-songwriter Vaan Ronk, who was considered a larger-than-life personality in the late 1950s and early ’60s in New York’s Greenwich Village. Not only did he headline music events, he also mentored such stars as Bob Dylan. He was also a storyteller who prided himself on making a living without ever leaving Greenwich Village.

Written by: Karen Benardello

Dave Van Ronk