Van Ronk, Brian Wilson Biopics

FOLK YEAH: The Coen brothers, who previously explored the genesis of bluegrass and mountain music in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, will take on the ‘50s and ‘60s Greenwich Village folk scene with a movie centered on Dave Van Ronk, nicknamed the “Mayor of McDougal Street,” according to Anne Thompson’s Indiewire.com. Van Ronk presided over the coffeehouse culture, nurturing such talents as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Phil Ochs. She also revealed The Messenger writer/director Owen Moverman is writing a Brian Wilson screenplay for River Road Entertainment, which has optioned the rights to the Beach Boys founder’s life story. (6/27a)