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Terrence Howard Might Play Marvin Gaye for Cameron Crowe

by Ethan Anderton
May 17, 2010
Source: Deadline

Back at the beginning on April, we had heard that writer/director Cameron Crowe had been quietly working for the past three years on a biopic focusing on superstar R&B/soul recording artist Marvin Gaye. At the time, a budget was still being formulated which was heavily dependent on who would be stepping up to play the iconic Motown singer/songwriter. Will Smith apparently already turned down the project, but Deadline reports Crowe just might have his man as Terrence Howard himself has mentioned that he's been talking with Crowe about taking on the role but is careful to mention that, "Nothing's been signed on paper yet."

Howard has plenty of experience with losing a big part that isn't set in stone after Marvel replaced him with Don Cheadle for what became a pivotal role in Iron Man 2. Though it might not be as high profile as War Machine, taking on a role like this certainly isn't an easy task and Howard even said: "Everybody who loves music will hate me if I get this one wrong." If you're like me, you're immediately worried, or at least curious, about Howard's singing abilities, but apparently he already released his own R&B album titled Shine Through It (you can check out the title track here). While I wasn't completely blown away by the caliber of his voice, there's no doubt he can actually sing. However, just singing is one thing, but imitating a smooth voice like Gaye's is much more challenging.

However, it remains to be seen if this biopic will even happen soon (after all, Crowe has been working on it for over three years), so we'll have to see how this plays out. In the meantime, it looks like Crowe might have another project closer to production as ComingSoon found deep in a Variety article that production designer Clay Griffith, who was the set decorator on Crowe's Jerry Maguire, had been booked on "Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo" an adaptation that we heard he may have been circling as his first project since 2005's Elizabethtown. The trade hasn't even written about Crowe's attachment to the project before this mention, but all signs seem to confirm that he's directing that film next. Which sounds the most interesting?

Filed under Casting, Movie News, Opinions

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