F. Gary Gray to direct 'Marvin' movie
Gaye biopic secures rights to artist's catalog

By MICHAEL FLEMING

F. Gary Gray will direct "Marvin," a biopic of Marvin Gaye, the iconic singer who was shot to death by his father in 1984. C. Gaby Mitchell ("Blood Diamond") is aboard to write the script.

David Foster will produce with Duncan McGillivray, and next week they will shop to studios and financiers a package that includes the complete music rights to Gaye's catalog, including the hits that made him Motown's biggest solo male star.

Those tunes include "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Heard It Through the Grapevine," "What's Goin' On" and "Let's Get It On." Plan is to have the star of the film lip synch to Gaye's recordings.

Gray ("The Italian Job") has long wanted to tell Gaye's story, but the inability to secure music rights has made it a high mountain to climb. A rival pic, "Sexual Healing," produced by James Gandolfini, who has a role, and starring Jesse L. Martin, will focus on the singer's declining years, because the filmmakers have rights to use songs only from his post-Motown career. That film, reportedly skedded to start last month in Europe, has not begun production.

Gray said his movie will cover Gaye's entire life, from his emergence at Motown through his defiance of Berry Gordy to record "What's Goin' On" and on up to his death.

"This is my passion project, the one that I wake up every day thinking about," Gray told Daily Variety. "I'm going to tell a truthful story, and there is no shortage of drama and extreme conflict in a relationship with his father that at its core is Shakespearean and tragic."This isn't the average biopic of a rock star wrestling with drugs and women, but a man whose musical awakening became a call to action that questioned critical issues like a costly foreign war, recession, environment, inequality -- issues that are relevant now."
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* (Co) Daily Variety
Filmography, Year, Role
* (Co) Daily Variety

The music rights were secured by McGillivray, the former Bank of America exec who once arranged credit lines for studios and producers in the 1980s.

"My mantra was, no music, no movie, but to me, the core story is a man who spent his whole life trying to justify and prove himself to a father who beat him down physically and later mentally," said McGillivray. "His father was a cross-dressing, alcoholic Baptist minister who was let off the hook for shooting his son."

Vet producer Foster was brought in to guide the picture, which will be a co-production of David Foster Prods. and McGillivray's Film by Humans. DFP's Ryan Heppe is co-producing.

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About time!

Timmy, you should try to get in that production

Hold up nucca! MG didn't do that! You betta change that before I come over there!

bboy87 said:

Boy I'll be screaming at every scene!

Timmy84 said:

you guys

+ Timmy, in my head you'd be all like: WHO TOLD YOU TO STOP,, Wh,, BITCH,,

PricelessHo said:

"I SAID FIX IT!!!! "

Timmy84 said:

oh lord

bboy87 said:

I already got a role in the film, suckas.

Lemme guess, you're Frankie?

Timmy84 said:

Naw, I'm playing Bird of Bird & the Midnight Falcons.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Then one of us is gonna have to be Big Red, the one who threatens to throw Bird off the building for asking about his royalties.

Big Red: "Now my office hours are from..."
Bird: "FUCK YOUR OFFICE HOURS, I WANNA TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW, MOTHAFUCKA..."
(((PUNCH)))
Bird: "HEY! AAAAAH!"
Big Red: "OPEN UP THE GODDAMN WINDOW!"
(((DANGLING BIRD FROM THE BALCONY)))
Big Red: "NOW WHAT ABOUT MY BOOKS?!!"
Bird: "NOTHING PLEEEEEASE!!!!!"


[Edited 6/8/08 21:17pm]

Timmy84 said:

That parts not even gonna be in the movie playa, no role for you.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

So I'm gonna have to be Berry?

Timmy84 said:

I don't think Chuck Berry is gonna in the film either.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

HELL NAW, I meant Gordy, fool.

Timmy84 said:

I wanna be either Smokey or David Ruffin

bboy87 said:

Are you a chameleon homie? U gonna go from lite skinted Smokey to dark David?

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I'm in the middle. I got the complexion of MJ circa '84

bboy87 said:

I got Marvin's complexion: not exactly dark but not exactly light either.

Don't be fooled by my picture, I got a bad scanner, lol.

But bboy, in order to be Smokey, you're gonna have to make your hair VERY curly and have green eye contact lenses and get a little powder.
[Edited 6/8/08 22:27pm]

Timmy84 said:

I can get an scurl and they can do CGI for the green eyes

bboy87 said:

This sounds like it will be a good production. Although, I have a BBC documentary on Marvin's life and so much of it is difficult to watch because,yes, he had demons and he was a troubled man. It also shed a lot of light on just how bizarre and abusive his father was. I can't imagine how difficult it is for a boy to beaten up all the time by a scripture spewing, drunk ass father running around the house dressed like Baby Jane and Geraldine. Old dude was like a character from a David Lynch movie .

I wish they would stop talking about this and finally do it!! Since the 90s,there has been a ton of rumors about various Marvin Gaye biopics that are being "worked on".Let's get this thing rollin....it's LONG overdue!

bboy87 said:

Timothy would get REAL know-it-all on their asses if they slipped on a small detail

Harlepolis said:

"David, get your ass out here and fix this, PRONTO!"


[Edited 6/9/08 7:56am]

Speaking of "David"...

How come I never across to Mr.Ritz Jr's mention,,,,I'll try to be positive as much as I could but not getting David Ritz invloved is just like jumping into fire without leaping, the man was practically his confidant,,,before the Sexual Healing lawsuit

I can't picture a "Marvin Gaye" project without David Ritz involvement. Its like making a movie about Malcolm X without going back to Alex Haley's work, its absured.
[Edited 6/9/08 8:01am]

Harlepolis said:

I actually think this one WILL involve the Ritz book so he'll have some input once he sees the film for himself. I know he wasn't entirely proud when Steve Turner's book got to be the basis of "Sexual Healing" so once "Marvin" gets down to naming stars and everything, David will be there. I hope so anyway.

Timmy84 said:

I don't think they'll use his help, Tim

It looks like they wrote him off this project from the get go. I hope Spike Lee doesn't make that mistake when he starts on that James Brown project and leave Allan Leeds out of it.

I'm crossing my fingers for this though

Harlepolis said:

Knowing how Spike is, he may do that too and think it was all about him telling it. I don't think he was allowed to on "(Malcolm) X" though.

Timmy84 said:

Ilyasah Shabazz was furious with him though after she watched the "Dictionary scene", remember that?

She said "My father took straight As in English and it was his fave subject, yet the movie showed him like the dictionary was the 1st book he ever read".