Hendrix, Unfilmed

Janis Joplin got the feature-film treatment in the fictionalized “The Rose” (1979). Jim Morrison’s life will be dramatized in Oliver Stone’s upcoming “The Doors.” But a feature film about legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix--who died in 1970 at 27--is still without voltage.

Alan Douglas, who supervises the production of the Hendrix music catalogues and related merchandising (including the upcoming concert video of Hendrix’s last major concert--at the Isle of Wight Festival), says he receives a steady stream of scripts--many of them from independent producers and “smaller studios” that promise financing. At present, “a stack about 3 1/2 feet tall is sitting in my office.”

The problem is, says Douglas, “they all say the same thing--nothing. We’ve yet to see one that’s got something to say about him that’s special.”

Douglas, who produced Band of Gypsies--Hendrix’s final group--says there were talks several years ago with Warner Bros. and various filmmakers. “But nothing ever got going. I don’t think anyone understood how to write the story,” says Douglas, who claims “Jimi was all music. That’s what he was about. Consequently, you don’t have the colorful stories of a Jim Morrison or a Janis Joplin. There are no sordid stories.”

But, what about all those tales--many of which have made their way into assorted Hendrix bios--about the sensuous rocker’s appetite for women--and drugs?

“So what! The guy was a superstar at 25. Sure he had a lot of women. And, yeah, he did drugs--like everyone else. But his isn’t the story of a junkie.” Stressing that Hendrix died of asphyxiation when he choked on his own vomit--”not from a straight overdose”--Douglas adds, “sex and drugs were a part of the backdrop of the times. But they weren’t what he was about.”

Could it be that Douglas is being too protective of Hendrix?

“Of course I’m protective, in that I don’t want some movie to go beyond the truth in an attempt to find some offstage madness and satanic drama.

“Because that wasn’t Jimi’s story. Jimi changed the music. He’s a reference point to every musician who ever picked up an instrument. I haven’t seen the script that captures that part of Jimi, the metaphysical part that asks where did the muse come from.”