Marvin Gaye Biopic In The Works Set To Be Produce By Dr Dre, Jimmy Iovine & Directed by Allen Hughes
A biopic on the life and times of Marvin Gaye is in the works at Warner Bros. Directed by Allen Hughes, the movie is penned by poet and playwright Marcus Gardley. Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and Andrew Lazar will produce the film.
The most exciting part of this news? The movie deal includes the singer’s estate and Motown, so Hughes has acquired rights to all of Gaye’s most popular songs. This was the final hurtle that barred several filmmakers from moving forward with their visions. And as we learned from the confusingly Ziggy Stardust-less David Bowie pic Stardust, gaining those music rights is essential to making an impactful film.
“This is so personal for me,” Hughes told Deadline. “When I made my first film with my brother, we were fortunate to get ‘What’s Going On’ into the trailer for Menace 2 Society, and it was a game changer in elevating the marketing of that film. Every film of mine but the period film From Hell had some Marvin Gaye in it, and I’ve just always connected to him. He’s the artist’s artist, with this ethereal voice that just comes out of the heavens.
There have been plenty of great artists, and then Marvin, in his own lane. When you listen, in one measure you feel like you’ve read a novel. Such a rich inner life in that voice, heavenly but riddled with pain, the agony and ecstasy at the same time.
When he gained his independence in the 70s, with that album What’s Going On. then Trouble Man and Let’s Get It On, I Want You and his final masterpiece Here, My Dear, when it comes to vocal orchestrations and the way he layered his voice, he’s Mozart. You’ve heard of all these big-name directors that have tried for 35 years to consolidate these rights. This started with Dre, saying, ‘Let’s do this together,’ and then Jimmy came on, and Andrew Lazar, and we worked with the estate, with Motown and some other things that needed to be tied down, and we got it done.”
