Rockstar and horror director Rob Zombie looks to step away from his roots as he is set to write and direct a biopic based on the book Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho’s House, which details the final years of the life of legendary comedy actor Groucho Marx.
The memoirs, written by Steve Stoliar, details one fan’s journey from being a personal fan of the Marx Brother’s movies to living in Groucho’s house as his archivist and assistant. In addition to getting to know his hero, the author found himself in the orbit of Groucho’s brothers Zeppo and Gummo, Mae West, George Burns, Bob Hope, Jack Lemmon, S.J. Perelman, Steve Allen, and scores of other luminaries of stage, screen, TV and literature. All of this lead of Stoliar’s hero being put to rest and his difficult further dealings with Erin Fleming, the woman in charge of Groucho’s personal and professional life.
“I have been a huge Groucho Marx fan ever since I was a child and have read countless book on the comic legend, but after reading the book Raised Eyebrows, a totally new perspective on Groucho’s life emerged,” Zombie told Deadline. “I immediately saw this project as Groucho’s Sunset Boulevard and knew I had to bring it to the big screen. It is a sad, funny and very dark tale of a one of Hollywood’s greatest stars final years.”
The movie will be co-written by Oren Moverman. A previous attempt to tell the story of Groucho Marx was in place with Big Eyes scribes Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, but the unfortunately couldn’t find the funding.