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MARVIN GAYE BIOPIC TO STAR JESSE L. MARTIN

Finally, a feature film about the life of Marvin Gaye has been givena green light. Jesse L. Martin, star of NBC's "Law & Order" and the featurefilm "Rent," will portray Motown's finest in the independently-financed film"Sexual Healing," due to begin production in May.

The movie, to be directed by Lauren Goodman from her own script, will focus on the years preceding his sudden shooting death at the hands of his father on April 1, 1984, one day before his 45th birthday. The film will include his self-imposed exile in Europe after years of battling drugs,domestic issues and label headaches. There, he was rescued by a promoter whohelped Gaye record his biggest-selling album, "Midnight Love," supported by his comeback smash, "Sexual Healing."

"More than just being the voice of a generation, Marvin Gaye proved to be its very heartbeat," Goodman told the Hollywood Reporter. "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."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, producers have been trying for years to get a Marvin Gaye biopic off the ground. Originally, "Sexual Healing" was intended to cover a larger portion of his life but wasrefocused on his final years because of rights issues with his Motown-produced records.