Marvin Gaye Biopic from Cameron Crowe

[dnwilliams]

A recent interview with Cameron Crowe in the pages of Variety reveals that the director, famous for the classics Say Anything and Jerry Maguire, has bee working on a biopic of Motown legend Marvin Gaye.



Budget and star have become issues with the film and have prevented it from moving ahead quickly. The music rights have been secured, but the cost of the rest of the production, and the acting talent that will be involved are undecided. Will Smith was apparently courted for the role (naturally) but he passed on the project, which is probably for the best, as he seems like an awkward fit for the part.

Gaye was born on April 2, 1939 in Washington DC and died April 1, 1984 in Los Angeles. He was the son of a Pentecostal minister and learned to sing in church. Signing a contract with Harvey Fuqua in 1959 he followed him to Motown, where he played drums on early Smokey Robinson hits. His own hits climaxed with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", one of the greatest songs of all time. He famously duetted with female singers, Tammi Terrell among the most notable. With the album What's Goin' On? his songs became more socially conscious. Troubled in his personal relationships and finances, he reemerged in 1982 with "Sexual Healing". He was shot to death by his father in a quarrel.

His life definitely has the ingredients for a great biopic.



Source: First Showing, Britannica

[Sheridan Passell]

That is so Gaye.

[twaddington]

lol. I'm not really a fan of music biopics, they are usually just so formulaic. The only exception I can think of is Amadeus which is brilliant but probably helped by the fact it doesn't give a hoot about historical accuracy.  This and the Sinatra biopic should be interesting though purely because it's Cameron Crowe and Martin Scorsese.

I can't really think of anyone who would be suitable to play Marvin, they should probably use an unknown. I hope they don't choose someone who is a singer first and actor second like Usher or John Legend, that would be a disaster.

[dnwilliams]

I like Ray and Walk the Line, can't say I've seen many, if any, other music biopics. I didn't think of Usher, but now you mention it I'd bet my bottom dollar he's under consideration:



Usher's Gaye Fantasy goes into further detail about how he basically wanted the above Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes clip to be an audition...

[dalmatianjaws]

I'll only watch it if the black guy is blind.

[Sheridan Passell]

Dalmatian Jaws only likes it when African-Americans are disadvantaged.
Discuss.

[dnwilliams]

DJaws favourite films: Dangerous Minds, Finding Forester, The Blind Side, The Green Mile, Upcoming Stevie Wonder Biopic.