*If you’ve been praying for the movie version of Marvin Gaye‘s life to hit the big screen, we’ve got fantastic news for ya. According to Variety, Dr. Dre is at this very moment putting in work on a film about the late, great singer.
Dr Dre (real name: Andre Young) of course served as an executive producer and inspiration for 2015’s “Straight Outta Compton,” is already in the early stages of production. And it appears that Dre has been able to what a lot of producers in the past have tried and failed to do: secure Gaye’s music rights from Sony/ATV Music Publishing and most importantly, his estate/family.
Gaye, of course, helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, including “Ain’t That Peculiar,” “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and duet recordings with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross and Tammi Terrell, later earning the titles “Prince of Motown” and “Prince of Soul.”
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As we’ve reported over the years there have been several attempts to give Gaye the biopic treatment. Gaye, who was a superstar in the music world was fatally shot on April Fools Day (April 1st) in 1984 at age 44 by his father following a family dispute in their Los Angeles home. F. Gary Gray, Cameron Crowe, James Gandolfini, Scott Rudin, and actors including Jesse L. Martin and Lenny Kravitz all have tried to bring Gaye’s story to the screen, but until now, none had been authorized by Gaye’s family.
Interestingly, another the Gaye estate did give Jamie Foxx the go-ahead for a limited series in 2016, but nothing seems to have ever come it.
The Compton born music and film producer (and one-time rapper) has dabbled as both in feature projects both in front of the camera in films like “Training Day” and “Car Wash” as well as producing. As we said above, his last film project was “Straight Outta Compton,” which told of the rise of his hip hop group N.W.A. The pic was a massive hit and also scored an Oscar nomination for original screenplay.
Variety notes that notes that in a curious twist of fate, Dre is represented by King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, the same legal firm which defended Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams against the Gaye estate in the closely-monitored “Blurred Lines” trial in 2015. The verdict found in favor of the Gaye family, which contended that “Blurred Lines” infringed on Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up” and ordered Thicke and Williams to pay millions in statutory damages.
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