According to the book D.M.S.R., as early as 86, P was planning a movie to be called The Dawn starring Mazarati, and another band to be called "The Coco Boys" which would feature Tony LeMans, Lenny Kravitz and Micki Free. P wouldn't be in the movie but he would direct it. Tony and Lenny both played in the same band in Los Angeles before Tony signed with Paisley Park. Anyway, the blueprint for The Dawn was later used for Graffiti Bridge. Two rival bands fighting it out. P had a few songs written for The Dawn; "Crucial", "When The Dawn of the Morning Comes" and "Coco Boys". In that song, P refers to all of the brothers have "blonde" hair, natural or otherwise". Damn. What was P thinking about?! Anyway, say P went ahead with this movie, how well do u think it would have done? Better than Graffiti Bridge?

One thing I forgot to mention in the thread is that I find the cast interesting; a pre "Let Love Rule" Lenny and Tony LeMans, who was somewhat underrated.

B, it's funny.I was rummaging thru some old stuff and found that book last night(lol). If the soundtrack had some good tunes and maybe Prince AND Spike Lee had directed it, it may have been a cool flick. I remember the media always going on about "The Dawn" back in 85 and the plot was going to be more about "The Kid" and his relationship with his father "Francis L".

Someone on the "org" not too long ago posted the imaginary "Purple Rain" sequel script and it was pretty damn good.

SPYZFAN1 said:

I clearly remember much talk about The Dawn in 85. Actually, the title was "The Dawn; Prince of Darkness" and it was to star P AND Madonna as his love. This was the first time out of three times P wanted Madonna in a film with him. I read that it had some dark ass occult overtones attached to it. Which wouldn't surprise me a bit,i.e; "Like A Prayer" album. U know the track; "I have an invitation". It always surprises me that folks don't talk about that on here.

It sounds like it would have been better Grafitti Bridge.
GB in my opinion was dated because it was trying to be PR 2. The Dawn had the same plot, but with different characters, it might have worked.

Somehow it sounds like the musical equivalent to the movie about motorcycle racing "Biker Boyz". Sort of Cali vibe... the blonde boyz would have worked as well.

sory about the double post.
[Edited 4/27/06 17:36pm]

blackguitaristz said:

Did you ever read the original draft of "Graffiti Bridge"? It's from 1987 and Madonna plays the love interest.Cat plays the other love interest.I guess both women were gonna be fighting over Prince,lol.It was a terrible script.

blackguitaristz said:

it's funny,after the success of 'Purple Rain',Prince became obsessed with making movies,lol.I heard so many rumors of planned films that never materialized...

***The Dawn
***Prince of Darkness and The Morning Star---mentioned in 1985 in an issue of US magazine...could have been an early,tentative title for "Under The Cherry Moon".
***(title unknown)a movie about his Camille alter ego


in 1989,Prince hired director Albert Magnoli as his manager and the two of them announced several new Prince films:

Graffiti Bridge
The Robert Johnson Story---Prince plays the famous blues musician
Dark Side Of The Moon---a documentary of Prince's career
The Dawn---described as a "street oriented sequel to Graffiti Bridge"


of course,since 'GB' flopped,those other movie projects were cancelled.

DavidEye said:

Yes, I remember all of those. I REALLY wanted to see him do the Robert Johnson story. I ran a thread about that a long time ago. The Prince of Darkness and Morning Star is a carry over from the The Dawn, follow up to Purple Rain. Again, check the direct link to the occult in that title. It's no secret that P AND Madonna dabbled in that.

"Prince Of Darkness"?? That sounds pretty heavy! Prince was going to do a flick about "Camille"?? Damn! Now I know that soundtrack would have been BANGIN' with some evil funk! (lol)

blackguitaristz said:

Also, notice the satanic connection with the other titles; Robert Johnson was well known for selling his soul to the devil, "Dark Side" of the Moon, Prince of "Darkness" and "Morning Star". Man, talking about consistent.