Questlove to Direct Documentary About Musician Sly Stone

After making his feature directorial debut with Sundance-winning doc Summer of Love, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has set his follow-up feature on Sly Stone.

Questlove will direct the documentary about the influential artist, king of funk, and fashion icon, with his partners Zarah Zohlman and Shawn Geehis producing under their Two One Five Entertainment banner.

According to the announcement, the doc will follow the musician “who was breaking all the rules at a time when doing so was extremely challenging, even dangerous. The pressure of explosive mainstream pop success and the responsibility of representing Black America forced him to walk the fine line of impossible expectations.”

MRC Non-Fiction will finance the doc and prodcue along with Network Entertainment’s Derik Murray and Brian Gersh. Common will executive produce via Stardust Films with Derek Dudley and Shelby Stone executive producing via ID8 Multimedia.

Said Questlove, “It goes beyond saying that Sly’s creative legacy is in my DNA— it’s a Black musician’s blueprint. To be given the honor to explore his history and legacy is beyond a dream for me.”

Questlove’s Summer of Soul premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where it earned both the audience award and the grand jury prize in the U.S. doc competition sections. In a festival record-breaking deal for a non-fiction title, the movie sold to Hulu and Fox Searchlight.

MRC’s non-fiction arm most recently produced the Edgar Wright directed The Sparks Brothers, which also bowed at Sundance.

MRC is a co-owner of The Hollywood Reporter through a joint venture with Penske Media titled P-MRC.

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