Sunday, April 20, 2025

Today’s Marvin Gaye Movie Announcement Was Made Six Years Ago, Thanks

I’m sorry. Fool me once… Today, as happens biannually, someone announced that Jesse L. Martin would play Marvin Gaye in a movie called “Sexual Healing.” However, just to explain the b-s that goes on in ScoopVille, that same announcement was made on February 2, 2006. Here  it is: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2006/02/06/Jesse-L-Martin-to-portray-Marvin-Gaye/UPI-30311139263622/

Fact is, I’ve written about this never going to happen, can’t be made, shouldn’t be made film for years, too. The producers only have the rights to Gaye’s music from 1982-1984, when he was on Columbia Records. There will be NO Motown recordings in this film. Got that? The movie is designed to cover only the last, and saddest part, of Marvin’s extraordinary career.

There will be nothing about his rise to fame at Motown, his duets with Tammi Terrell, his crazy marriage to Anna Gordy, or his brilliant moment of artistic achievement with “What’s Going On.” It will just be about Marvin taking drugs, losing his mind, and being shot to death by his father.

No one wants to see that, trust me.

But also: this business of constantly releasing the same “leaks” about a movie that won’t be made. It’s tiresome.

This “scoop” was also discussed in 2011 by Martin, who said making the movie was “impossible.” He was right. http://www.eurweb.com/2011/04/jesse-l-martin-less-optimistic-about-his-marvin-gaye-biopic/

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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