Posted by Emily Exton on 08/15/2012 at 4:28 PM News

The Popdust Files: documentaries, jay-z, made in america, movies, ron howard

Ron Howard will take his talents to Philadelphia this coming Labor Day, with plans to make a documentary around Made in America, the upcoming two-day music festival hosted by Jay-Z and Budweiser, the New York Post‘s Page Six reports. Along with Jay, the festival lineup includes acts like Pearl Jam, Drake, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, D’Angelo, and the Maybach Music collective. The director’s longtime producing partner Brian Grazer told the paper about the duo’s plans to carpool down in hopes of capturing the essence of Hov’s experiment as festival organizer and artist curator. “The festival showcases 20 pre-eminent artists that speak to the new generation,” Grazer says. “I am producing the film with Steve Stoute and Jay. Ron is directing. It is going to be born through Jay-Z’s perspective… how he puts the event together.” So if you’re already going, better make sure you look good. And yes, you’re allowed to smile at fact that Grazer’s calling him “Jay” already—who wouldn’t want to exercise that right?

Aside from his childhood role as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and narrator of Arrested Development, Howard has worked mainly with full-length narrative features, earning an Academy Award for A Beautiful Mind in 2001 and a Best Director nomination for 2008′s Frost/Nixon. We encourage him to experiment with adding AD jokes into a Hov-based doc; if it works, we may have found the perfect man.

Jay’s already used to having cameras follow him around, allowing director Robert Lopuski to document the making of last year’s Watch The Throne with Kanye West, as well as his personal snapshots be put to good use in Beyoncé’s Live at Roseland: Elements of 4 DVD. For those who can’t get enough of these behind-the-scenes looks into the mind of Shawn Carter, and don’t believe the rumors that a full-length version of the Watch The Throne doc will premiere at Toronto Film Festival in September, this could be the perfect alternative. Vulture smartly wishes for backstage rapping with Blue Ivy, but we’d also like to add our hope for footage of Beyoncé going on a tour de cheesesteaks, as well as Rick Ross reenacting the famous Rocky scene on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-iTaZGzbd8