While Fox is completing negotiations for the music rights to the Mamas & the Papas, deals are in place with band members John Phillips, Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty, as well as the estate of Cass Elliot to chronicle their rise and fall, complete with the kind of romantic entanglements that are usually the stuff of fiction, reported Foxnews.
The band was established by 25-year old John Phillips after he fell in love with 16-year old Michelle while touring with his folk group the Journeymen in 1964. After the young woman brazenly confronted Phillips' wife, that marriage broke up and John and Michelle soon got married and invited singers Doherty and Elliot to join them in what became the Mamas & the Papas.
While they soon had a No. 1 hit with their very first single, "California Dreamin'," the group members' close-knit relationships grew nightmarish when Michelle fell in love with Denny; Elliot, unbeknownst to Doherty, was madly in love with him as well. John briefly fired Michelle from the band. Her photograph was even excised from an album cover with a lookalike hired to replace her.
She returned, and the quartet had a few more hits, like "Monday, Monday," with songwriter John Phillips instilling a style that married folk and pop music. But bickering and drugs led the band to part ways shortly after a memorable appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Elliot died in 1974 of heart failure just as her solo career got going; the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Though the members have put their demons behind them, relations between them are still raw. That made the film deal especially tough, which is why it took so long and why previous attempts by other studios proved unavailing. The Fox effort began when Michelle Phillips' manager Larry Kennar attempted to shop her rights. Her ex once again rejected the notion, but this time, producer John Davis would not let it go. He spent well over a year winning over each Mama and Papa, ensuring that each would have a fair say in shaping the story. John Phillips, Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty will all be exec producers, and the studio is looking for the right screenwriter and director to tell the band's story.
The members won't seek a whitewash, as they participated in a recent VH1 bio and each member was candid about the turbulent past, said Foxnews—Albawaba.com.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
