NEW YORK (Variety magazine) - According to Variety Magazine,
Janet Jackson has been signed to portray Lena Horne in an upcoming ABC Television Biopic on the singer's life:
"Stormy weather" and the small screen are in the forecast for pop diva
Janet Jackson.
Storyline Entertainment's Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, along with ABC and Sony Pictures Television, have signed the Grammy-winning crooner-thesp to star in a two-hour musical biopic about another singer-actress: Lena Horne. Roy Campanella Jr. will direct and is also attached as an exec producer.
Rather than lip synch to Horne's songs -- as usually happens in musical biopics -- Jackson will record new takes on the singer's classic tunes, choosing from a discography which includes such standards as "Stormy Weather" and "Just One of those Things."
Jackson also will serve as exec producer of the untitled project, which is being written by Shirley Pierce. Horne's autobiography "Lena," written with Richard Schickel, will serve as the basis for the script.
Pic will delve into Horne's oft-turbulent career, which involved breaking numerous race boundaries and a brush with the anti-communist blacklist, as well as a successful feature career.
Storyline senior VP of TV Dave Mace will serve as a producer on the pic, while Sony Pictures TV exec VP of movies and minis Helen Verno will oversee the project for the studio. "I can't think of more ideal casting," ABC longform topper Quinn Taylor told Daily Variety. "Janet Jackson and Lena Horne - it's like peanut butter and jelly."
Jackson said she was "very excited" about playing Horne. "She is someone I've admired my whole life," Jackson said, adding that she was glad "to be collaborating and producing the movie" with Storyline.
Zadan and Meron first met with Jackson after the success of "Chicago," which the duo produced. Jackson - whose feature credits include "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" and "Poetic Justice" - was a fan of the tuner and wanted to meet with the Storyline toppers.
That meeting led to a discussion of Jackson's desire to bring the story of Horne to life. As it happened, ABC had already optioned a Horne biopic from Campanella.
Verno said that in addition to being a star vehicle for Jackson, the Horne pic will also serve as a way to educate younger viewers about the race struggles of the last century.
"This is an opportunity for a new generation to be exposed not only to Ms. Horne's music, but to understand her struggle to overcome the racial prejudices she faced as a black performer in America," Verno said.
There's no anticipated airdate for the pic yet, though a May 2004 premiere wouldn't be impossible. Taylor, however, said he's willing to wait as long as necessary to ensure the project is "perfect."
