The Rock-Reggae Community Reacts To Sublime Biopic From DENM, Duddy B, Opie Ortiz, and Jakob Nowell

January 27, 2023

The upcoming Sublime biopic was headline news in the rock-reggae community this year. We sat down with some musicians from the genre to draw their reactions.

The movie is in development by Sony Pictures with The Hunger Games’ Francis Lawrence.

Sony’s 3000 Pictures, Chernin Entertainment, Dave Kaplan and Peter Paterno are developing the film. Kaplan and Paterno, the driving forces behind the property for years, played a huge part in putting the pieces together.

Ozark scribe Chris Mundy is set to write the script, with Sublime band members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson, Troy Nowell and Jakob Nowell (on behalf of Bradley Nowell’s estate) set to serve as executive producers. No news yet on when filming will begin or when we can expect to lay eyes on the finished product.

We caught up with members of the rock-reggae community to get their reactions on what they think of a potential Sublime movie.

“We always get scripts coming in, but we finally got one that we really liked and it’s been in production for a while now” – Jakob Nowell

Nowell continues, “Chris Mundy is leading the project and he’s a really talented writer, director, and producer. I trust in Chris’ vision and I think it’s gonna be a cool thing. Time will tell, because it takes a lot of people to build a castle.”

“A biopic about Sublime? It sounds like it’s going to have to be one of the most iconic movies; it’s gotta rip,” – DENM.

DENM continues, “My favorite movies are seeing the biopics of and seeing people on a much more intimate level verses like a rockstar that’s far away like when Johnny Cash had his. People always ask what is the vibe, but it’s just SoCal. There’s hip-hop, punk, there’s reggae, and all sort of different elements all colliding at once. If you were a kid growing up in it, you were just a sponge absorbing it all.”

Another person that has a direct connection to the source material is Opie Ortiz, who lived it and designed the iconic “Sublime Sun” artwork back in the day. When asked about the movie, Opie was quick to offer up his thoughts on who should play Eric Wilson.

“Remember the guy that played After Jason Bourne? What was his name? He also played the guy with the bow and arrow. I think he should play Eric but because he looks just like, but he’s probably a little bit too old trying to do younger scenes. For some reason, I was thinking Jack Black for Brad.” – Opie Ortiz

We pressed Opie and who would play him in the film, and he offered, “I don’t know, maybe like Lou Diamond Phillips.”

“Who would play Brad?,” said Duddy B from Dirty Heads when posed with the idea. “I think that Gary Busey,” he said with a chuckle.

Sublime’s contributions to the genre can never be understated and are still felt to this day. The trio’s fusing reggae grooves, punk grittiness, ska energy, back-porch folk introspection and hip-hop swagger laid the groundwork for the entire genre.

“What I Got”, “Santeria”, “Wrong Way”, and “Doin’ Time” have stood the test of time and continue to be the benchmark that every band tries to measure up to when creating new music.