Buddy Holly was a 1950s rock & roll pioneer. He’s also known for his efforts to break racial boundaries through music, and director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) plans to tell his story in a new biopic called Clear Lake.
The film, which is being developed in association with Buddy’s widow Maria Elena Holly and the Holly estate, focuses on his 1958 Biggest Show of Stars tour and ends with the 1959 plane crash outside Clear Lake, IA that tragically took Buddy’s life.
“I found myself attracted to Clear Lake because the script tells the tragic story of Buddy Holly and his era in fascinating detail and with vivid characterizations,” Beresford said in a statement (via Variety). “Needless to say, the added plus of all the wonderful music was also a major lure.”
“The undertone of the story is how black, Hispanic and white artists came together on the first truly integrated music tour to begin to break down color barriers, in much the same way Jackie Robinson did in professional baseball,”producer Rick French told The Hollywood Reporter.
Clear Lake is being produced by Prix Productions in association with Stuart Benjamin Productions and BMG and plans to go into production later this year, if coronavirus restrictions are lifted. Virtual casting has already begun.
