Variety reports that Dreamworks is the verge of closing a deal to buy a script by Memoirs Of A Geisha writer, Doug Wright, about composer George Gershwin, with Marc Platt (Wanted) producing alongside singer and pianist Michael Feinstein.
The movie will span Gershwin’s life, from his impoverished chidhood as the son of Russian immigrants to his death at the age of only 38. During his short career he wrote numerous Broadway shows with his brother Ira, including Funny Face, An American In Paris and his most ambitious work, Porgy And Bess.
Even those musicals that have now been forgotten produced classic songs like Fascinating Rhythm and Oh, Lady be Good, while Rhapsody In Blue is one of the most famous pieces of music of the 20th Century. He also composed the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize, Of Thee I Sing. Gershwin eventually succumbed to a brain tumour, which he’d struggled with for several years.
Gershwin’s story could certainly make for a interesting Oscar-bait biopic, and fits with Dreamwork current plans, as they’ve also got looks at the life of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. in the works. If nothing else, it’ll be an excuse for a hell of a lot of good music.