‘Law & Order’ star tunes in to Marvin Gaye movie

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Hot on the heels of hit
films about Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, a project about the
final years of Marvin Gaye is set to begin production in May.

“Sexual Healing,” an independently financed drama starring
“Law & Order” cop Jesse L. Martin as the late Motown icon, will
shoot in Hungary and Germany. Lauren Goodman will direct from
her own script.

The movie chronicles Gaye’s self-imposed exile in Europe
after years of battling drugs, domestic issues and label
headaches. There, he was rescued by a promoter who helped Gaye
record his biggest-selling album, “Midnight Love,” which
yielded the monster comeback hit, “Sexual Healing.”

Gaye’s life was cut short the day before his 45th birthday
in 1984, when his father killed him.

“More than just being the voice of a generation, Marvin
Gaye proved to be its very heartbeat,” Goodman said. “As a
filmmaker, I was drawn to tell the story of a human being who
was never fully realized, one with faults and foibles and an
uncommon grace expressed every time he picked up the
microphone.”

Various producers have spent years trying to make a movie
about Gaye. Originally, the project was intended to cover a
larger portion of his life but was refocused on his final years
because of rights issues with his Motown-produced records.

Music biopics are a hot genre these days with the success
of 2004′s Oscar-winning “Ray” and 2005′s Oscar-nominated Cash
movie “Walk the Line.”

Martin most recently starred in the feature adaptation of
the hit musical “Rent.”

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter