Here is the first image from the upcoming Marvin Gaye biopic, Sexual Healing. This image representing Gaye’s iconic 1971 album, What’s Going On is only a hint of the eerie resemblance between star Jesse L. Martin and the late crooner.
The film will focus on Gaye’s later years as he lived in Europe, putting his past drug abuse behind him and wrote his hit song Sexual Healing, along with promoter Freddy Cousaert.
Sexual Healing has not come without it’s share of detractors. Several months ago, Gaye’s widow Janis Gaye claims the film is the “last thing” the late Motown icon would want to have happen.
“Some of the characterizations, like saying Marvin’s father killing him was a ‘mercy killing,’ you can only imagine how that makes the kids feel.” It makes me feel bad enough,” she admitted while also touching on her “disappointment” over Martin replacing Lenny Kravitz’s lead role in Julien Temple’s biopic.
“Ultimately, I think it was Lenny’s heart and soul and conscience that caused him to step away,” she“Hopefully, that touches Jesse in the same way.”
The singer’s second wife isn’t the only person who has publicly expressed disapproval over the forthcoming project. Last December, Marvin Gaye III also questioned the film’s accuracy.
“The producers and directors of this film are very wrong and shameful,” he told TMZ. “[They’re] trying to do a film about a low period in his life. They don’t even know the whole story.”
Currently, the film is nearly finished with approximately 70% of the shoot is reportedly already finished. The timing is perfect with Focus Features working on presenting a “great promo reel” at Cannes.
The cast also includes S. Epatha Merkerson and Dwight Henry and will be set in the early 1980s, focusing on the making of the Midnight Love album, while Gaye was living in Belgium – a drug addict, considered something of a has-been at the time.
Here’s hoping that the finished product can be something that will honor Gaye’s memory, make his fans happy and make his family proud.