“The number one question I get asked is, ‘Do you think Jim Morrison’s really dead?’” says Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist of The Doors.  In response, Manzarek wrote the novel The Poet in Exile, which imagines Morrison coming out of hiding forty years after his staged death in 1971.  Tim Sullivan (Driftwood) has optioned the rights to the novel with plans to write and direct the adaptation.  Sullivan will co-write the script with Gavin Heffernan (Chillerama) and Liz Sullivan (Icons and Outcasts).  Manzarek will produce.

The casting process should be fun.  Who would you want to see play a 67-year-old Jim Morrison?  Full pres release after the jump.

If you’re a fan of The Doors or have any interest in gaining insight into who they were, what they became and what they meant to our culture, it really doesn’t get any better than this. The new feature documentary, When You’re Strange, uncovers historic and previously unseen footage of the Los Angeles rock band and provides new insights into the revolutionary impact of its music and legacy. Directed by award-winning writer/director Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp, the film is a riveting account of the band’s history and the first feature documentary about them.

The film reveals an intimate perspective on the creative chemistry between drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek and singer Jim Morrison – four brilliant artists who made The Doors one of America’s most iconic and influential rock bands. Using footage shot between the band’s 1965 formation and Morrison’s 1971 death, When You’re Strange follows the band from the corridors of UCLA’s Film School, where Manzarek and Morrison met, to the stages of sold-out arenas.